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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.#J 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. 



The interest which these Lectures awakened, at the time of their 
delivery and subsequent publication, on account of their conservative 
tone and the numerous facts they embrace, has induced us to issue them 
in a single volume. In this form they will be valuable, not only for 
present reading, to those who have not seen them, but as a work of 
reference on the subjects which they discuss. 

The request of the members of the Legislature, for the publication 
of the first two Lectures, might be considered as an ample endorsement 
of their worth, and as rendering the addition of any other commendatory 
notices unnecessary. We cannot refrain, however, from adding one 
from the pen of a distinguished literary foreigner, as an evidence of the 
impression they produced upon her mind. While in Cincinnati, she 
had applied to the author, through a friend, for copies of all three of 
the Lectures, and on reading them, sent him a note from which we 
make the following extract : 

Cincinnati, 9th Dec. 1850. 

My Dear Sir : — Receive my heartfelt thanks for your letter and Lectures, 
and still more for your views and working in the question about emancipa- 
tion and slavery. "They are the first ones I have met, which have inspired 
me — I mean, made me feel inspired, glowing, on the subject — and opened to 
me great views, great possibilities in the cause. They have made me truly de- 
lighted. Mv nature is too averse to polemics, to have been able to sympathise 
or be warnicd by the ultra abolitionists. But I adore the ideal, the perfect and 
true; and only from that central point can all relative points come out in their 
ti-ue light, true relations ; and only from that point is any strong organizing 
power to be exercised. 

I congratulate you, most sincerely, on the view of the cause you have taken 
up, and the way you arc working it out, and myself, to be instructed by your 
writings. *•'* * ***** 

Yours, very truly, 

Fkedrika Bkemer. 

Mr. David Christy. 

The facts embraced in these Lectures are, mostly, of a class that 
are not of easy access to common readers ; nor do we know of any other 
writer who has brought together so many materials, in so small a space, 
on the important and exciting questions he has so carefully examined. 
It is expected, therefore, that their republication will be acceptable 
to the politician, the statesman, the philanthropist, the divine, and all 
who feel interested in the intellectual and moral elevation of the people 
of color. 3 The Publishers 



COJ^TENTS. 



LECTURE I. 



Introduction 3 

The Slave Trade 4 

Emancipation of Slaves in tlie United States, 11 

Colonization to Liberia 15 

Influence of Climate on Colored Men 19 

Influence of Climate and Foreign Emigration 22 
Influence of Slavery and Foreign Emigration 23 
Free Colored Emigration into Otiio 2i 



Necessity of Colonization 27 

Practicability of Colonization 31 

Influence of Colonization on the Native Af- 

cans 33 

Influence of Colonization on Missionary Ef- 
forts 33 

Relations of England to Liberia 36 

Concluding Remarks 54 



LECTURE II. 



Introduction 3 

Social and Moral Condition of Africa 6 

Human Sacrifices 7 

Idolatry 11 

Devil \Vorship 12 

Witchcraft 13 

Polygamy 15 



Slavery of Africa. 
Tyranny, Cruelties, ^Vars. 



Cannibalism . 
Modifications of the Slave Trade. 

Origin of Slave Trade 

Slaves in a Barricoon 



Slaves, the Middle Passage 24 

'• the Slaver Pons 24 

" 6fK) drowned 25 

Relations of American Slavery to African 

Colonization 27 

Religious Aiews of the Pilgrims 27 

Condition of Slaves in the U. States 31 

Condition of Slaves in Jamaica 33 

Cuba 38 

Brazil 39 

Mexico 43 

Elements of Colonization 46 

Appendix 51 



LECTURE III. 



Introduction 

Preliminary Historical Retrospect 

Propositions Discussed : 

1. That free labor, in tropical and semi-tropi- 
cal countries, is failing to furnish to the 
markets of the world, in anything like 
adequate quantities, those commodities 
upon which slave labor is chiefly employed, 

2. That the governments of England, France, 
and the United States, at the present mo- 
ment, are compelled, from necessity, to 
consume slave labor products, to a large 
extent, and thus still continue to be the 
principal agents which aid in extending 
and perpetuating slavery and the slave 
trade 

3. That the legislative measures adopted for 
the destruction of the slave trade and 
slavery, especially by England, have tend- 
ed to increase and extend the systems they 
were designed to destroy i 

i. That the governments named cannot hope 
to escape from the necessity of consuming 
the products of slave labrr, except by call- 
ing into active service, on an extensive 
scale, the free labor of countries not at 



present producing the commodities upon 
which slave labor is employed 40 

5. That Africa is the principal field where 
free labor can be made to compete, suc- 
cessfully, with slave labor, in the produc- 
tion of exportable tropical commodities. . 45 

6. That there are moral forces and commer- 
cial considerations now in operation, wiiich 
will, necessarily, impel Christian govern- 
ments to exert their influence for the civ- 
ilization of Africa, and the promotion of 
the prosperity of the Republic of Liberia, 
as the principal agency in this great work ; 
and that in these facts Ues our encourage- 
ment to persevere in our colonization 
efforts 53 

7. That all these agencies and influences be- 
ing brought to bear upon the civilization 
of Africa, from the nature of its soil, cli- 
mate, products, and population, we are 
forced to believe that a mighty people will 
ultimately rise upon that continent, taking 
rank with the most powerful nations of 
the earth, and vindicate the character of 
the African race before the world 63 

Conclusion 70 



LECTURE IV 
Fact,« for Thinking Men : 

This is a synopsis of facts, chiefly embraced 
in the foregoing Lectures, and designed to 
demonstrate the indispensable necessity of 



colonization to the extension of tropical free 
labor cultivation : and to show, that opposi- 
tion to African colonization is opposition to 
the promotion and increase of free labor. 



The population of Africa is estimated at 110.000,000, in the first two Lectures, 
ft is now usually estimated at 150,000.000. (4) 



A LECTURE 



/IFRICAN COLONIZATION^: 



INCLUDING A BRIEF OUTLINE 



SLAYE TRADE, EMANCIPATION, 



KELATION OF THE 



REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA TO ENGLAND, &< 



DELIVERED IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 



By DAVID ^HRISTY, 

AGEN'T OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 



COLUMBUS: 

PUBLISHED BY J. H. RILEY & CO. 

PRINTED BT SCOTT Sc BASCOM. 

1853. 



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SI 



Columbus, Feb. 2d, 1849. 

The undersigned members of the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, desirous of promoting the discussion of the topics connected with a 
provision to be made for the people of color, and that the greatest publicity- 
should be given to the facts and statistics contained in your interesting 
and eloquent Lecture on African Colonization, delivered in the Hall of 
the House of Representatives, on the I9th ult., would respectfully request 
a copy of the same for publication. 

To DAVID CHRISTY, 

Agent, American Colonization Societt. 



GEO. HARDESTY, 
SAMUEL BIGGER, 
CHAUNCEY N. OLDS, 
SETH WOODFORD, 
R. F. HOW/^^D, 
MILLER PENNINGTON 
J. HAMBLETON, 
JOHN A. DODDS, 
TANGY JCLIEN, 
WM. MORROW, 
JACOB MILLER, 
B. F. LEITER, 
LUTHER MONFORT, 
DAVID KLNG, 
J. H. DUBBS, 



C. B. GODDARD, 

F. T. BACKUS, 
A. L BENNET, 
PINKNEY LEWIS, 
J. G. BKESLIN, 
DANIEL BREWER, 
C. P. EDSON, 
ALEX. LONG, 

G. E. PUGH, 

J AS. R. MORRIS, 
S. L. NORRIS, 
WM. DUKBIN, 
JAMES M. BURT, 
J AS. H. SMITH, 



HENRY ROEDTER, 
J. R. EMRIE. 
JOHN GRAHAM, 
FISHER A. BLOCKSOM, 
SAML. PATrERSON, 
ISAAC HAINES, 
W. DENNISON, Juif., 
F. COR WIN. 
HARVEY VINAL, 
WM. KENDALL, 
J. S. CONKLIN, 
GEO. D. HENDRICKS, 
JOSHUA JUDY, 
SAMUEL MYERS. 



Oxford, Butler County, Ohio, Feb. 23d. 
Gentlemen, 

Yours of the 2d inst. is received per mail. I thank you 
for the expression of respect tendered to myself, and the interest which 
you manifest in the cause of which I am the advocate. Your kind invita- 
tion to me to allow the publication of my Lecture, will afford me the 
opportunity, under the sanction of your names, of spreading before the 
public the facts which it embraces in relation to African Colonization, 
and may serve, it is hoped, to enlist many new friends to the cause of the 
young Republic of Liberia. I therefore cheerfully comply with your 
request. 

I have taken the liberty, you will perceive, of adding another section, 
which time did not allow me to present in your hearing, and which was 
not fully matured on the evening in which you did me the honor to allow 
me the use of the Hall. I cannot expect that every one will agree with 
me in all my reasonings and conclusions, but the facts which are presented 
are of such importance that they cannot fail, it is believed, to arrest 
attention, and to lead to further investigation, and to increased efforts to 
promote the welfare of our colored population. 

Yours respectfully, 

DAVID CHRISTY, 
Agt. Am. Col. Soc. for Ohio. 
Messrs. Hardesty, Bigger, Olds, and others. 



LECTURE 



AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 



Ever since the fall of man, and his expulsion from that Eden of 
bliss, assigned him in his state of innocence, a warfare has been 
wacred between good and evil. The conflict has been varied in its 
results, sometimes good and at others evil having the ascendency. 
But why is it that an all-wise, all-powerful, omniscient and mfinitely 
benevolent Being should have permitted the introduction of moral 
evil into the world, and in his providence allow its continuance, we 
cannot determine, nor shall we wait to inquire. 

We believe that errors of judgment and opinion, and all evil 
actions, and every form of wickedness and injustice in the world, 
have their origin in the moral depravation of man's nature, and that 
the contest between good and evil will necessardy continue until 
there shall be a moral renovation of his heart. This moral deprav- 
ation of man's nature being general, its effects are universal, and the 
whole world has been but a theater upon which continued develop- 
ments of its workings have been exhibited. 

We believe that God has made provision for man's moral redemp- 
tion,— for creating in him a new heart and renewing a right spirit 
within him— and that the Gospel is the ordinary medium through 
which this blessing flows to mankind. And believing this, we have 
full confidence in the success of all enterprises for the amehoration 
of the condition of mankind, which embrace the Christian religion 
as the basis of their operations. 

The history of African slavery forms one of the darkest pages in 
the catalogue of woes introduced into the world by human depravity. 
It originated in the islands connected with this continent,in an error 
of judgment, but, strange to say, from motives of benevolence, andhas 
been pl-oductive of an accumulation of human suffering which afibrds 
a most painful illustration of the want of foresight in man, and the 
immensity of the evils which misguided philanthropy may inflict 
upon our race. i • • 

In attempting to bring up in review this enormous evd in its ongin 
and various aspects, as connected with colonization, the subject 
naturally divides itself into the following heads : 

(3^ 



4 The Slave Trade. 

I. The origin of the slave trade, with the efforts made for its 

suppression. 

II. The measures adopted at an early day for the emancipation of 

the slaves introduced into the United States, with the results. 

III. The provision to he made for the people of color when liber- 
ated. 

IV. The practicability of colonizing the free colored people of the 
United States. 

V. The effects of colonization on tlie native Africans, and upon 

the missionary efforts in Africa. 

VI. The certainty of success of the colonization scheme, and of 
the perpetuity of the Republic of Liberia. 

I. A Portuguese exploring expedition was in progress, in 1434, 
along the west coast of Africa, having in view the double object of 
conquering tlie Infidels and finding a passage by sea to India. Under 
the sanction of a bull of Pope Martin V., they had granted to them 
the right to all the territories they might discover, and a plenary 
indulgence to the souls of all who might perish in the enterprise, and 
in recovering those regions to Christ and his church. Anthony 
Gonzales, an officer of this expedition, received at Rio del Oro, on 
the coast of Africa, in 1412, ten negro slaves and some gold dust in 
exchange for several Moorish captives, which he held in custody. 
On his return to Lisbon, tlie avarice of his countrymen was awakened 
by his success, and in a few years thirty ships were fitted out in 
pursuit of this gainful traffic. These incipient steps in the slave 
trade having been taken, it was continued by private adventurers until 
-i84l, when the King of Portugal took the title of Lord of Guinea, 
and erected many forts on the African coast to protect himself in this 
iniquitous war upon human rights. 

Soon after the setUement of the first colony in St. Domingo, in 
1493, the licentiousness, rapacity and insolence of the Spaniards 
exasperated the native Indians, and a war breaking out between them, 
the latter Avere subdued and reduced to slavery. But as the avarice 
of the Spaniards was too rapacious and impatient to try any method 
of acquiring wealth but that of searching for gold, this servitude soon 
became as grievous as it was unjust. The Indians were driven in 
crowds to the mountains, and compelled to work in the mines by 
masters who imposed their tasks without mercy or discretion. Labor 
so disproportioned to their strength and former habits of life wasted 
that feeble race so rapidly, that in fifteen years their numbers w^ere 
reduced, by the original war and subsequent slavery, from a million 
to sixty thousand. 

This enormous injustice awakened the sympathies of benevolent 
hearts, and great efforts were made by the Dominican missionaries to 
rescue the Indians from such cruel oppression. At length Las Casas 
espoused their cause; but his eloquence and all his efforts, both in the 
Island and in Spain, were unavailing. The impossibility, as it was 
supposed, of carrying on any improvements in America, and securing 



The Slave Trade. 5 

to the crown of Spain the expected annual revenue of gold, unless 
the Spaniards could command the labor of the natives, was an in- 
superable objection to his plan of treating them as free subjects. 

To remove this obstacle, without which it was in vain to mention 
his scheme, Las Casas proposed to purchase a sufficient number of 
Negroes, from the Portuguese settlements on the coast of Africa, to 
be employed as substitutes for the Indians. Unfortunately for the 
children of Africa, this plan of Las Casas was adopted. As early as 
1503, a few Negro slaves had been sent into St. Domingo, and in 
1511, Ferdinand had permitted them to be imported in great numbers. 
The labor of one African was found to be equal to that of four 
Indians. But Cardinal Ximenes, acting as Regent from the death of 
Ferdinand to the accession of Charles, peremptorily refused to allow 
of their further introduction. Charles, however, on arriving in Spain, 
granted the prayer of Las Casas, and bestowed upon one of his 
Flemish friends the monopoly of supplying the colonies with slaves. 
This favorite sold his right to some Genoese merchants, 1518, ani 
they brought the traffic in slaves, between Africa and America, into 
that regular form which has been continued to the present time. 

Thus, through motives of benevolence toward the poor oppressed 
native Lidians of St. Domingo, did the mistaken philanthropy of a 
good man, co-operating with the avarice of the Christian world, entail 
perpetual chains and inflict unutterable woes upon the sons of Africa. 

This new market for slaves having been thus created, the nations 
of Europe were soon found treating with each other for the extension 
of the slave trade. 'The Genoese^' as already stated, 'had, at first, 
the monopoly of this new branch of commerce. The French next 
obtained it, and kept it until it yielded them, according to Spanish 
official accounts, the sum of $204,000,000. In 1713 the English 
secured it for thirty years.' But Spain, in 1739, purchased the 
British right for the remaining four years, by the payment of $500,000. 
The Dutch also participated to some extent in the traffic. 

The North American Colonies did not long escape the introduction 
of this curse. As early as 1620, slaves were introduced by a Dutch 
vessel, which sailed up the James river, and sold her cargo. From 
that period a hvf slaves were introduced into North America from 
year to year, until the beginning of the 18th century, when Great 
Britain, having secured the monopoly of the slave trade, as before 
mentioned, prosecuted it with great activity, and made her own 
Colonies the principal mart for the victims of her avarice. But her 
North American Colonies made a vigorous opposition to their intro- 
duction. The mother country, however, finding her commercial 
interests greatly advanced by this traffic, refused to listen to their 
remonstrances, or to sanction their legislative prohibitions. 

But in addition to the commercial motive which controlled the 
actions of England, another, still more potent, was disclosed in the 
declaration of the Eail of Dartmoutli, in 1777, when he declared, as 
a reason for forcing the Africans upon the Colonies, that "Negroes 
cannot become Republicans : — they will be a power in our hands to 



6 The Slave Trade. 

restrain the unruly Colonists." The success which a kind provi- 
dence granted to the arms of the Colonists, in their struggle for 
independence, however, soon enabled them to control this evil, and 
ultimately to expel it from our coasts. 

In consequence of citizens of the Colonies being involved in the 
traffic, in the adoption of the Constitution the period for the termina- 
tion of the slave trade was prolonged until January, 1808. But 
Congress, in anticipation, passed a law, on March 3d, 1807, prohibit- 
ing the fitting out of any vessels for the slave trade after that date, 
and forbidding the importation of any slaves after January, 1808, 
under the penalty of imprisonment from five to ten years, a fine of 
$20,000, and tlie forfeiture of the vessels employed therein. This 
act also authorized the President of the United States to employ 
armed vessels to cruise on the coasts of Africa and the United States 
to prevent infractions of the law. 

On the 3d of March, 1819, another act was passed, re-afilrming 
the former act, and authorizing the President to make provision for 
the safe-keeping and support of all recaptured Africans, and for their 
return to Africa. This movement was prompted by the exertions of 
the American Colonization Society, which had been organized on 
the first of January, 1817, and embraced among its members many 
of the most infiuential men in the nation. 

On the first of March, preceding the passage of this act, a 
gendeman from Virginia off'ered a resolution in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, which was passed without a division, declaring that every 
person who should import any slave, or purchase one so imported, 
should be punished ivith death. The incident reveals to us, in a 
very unequivocal manner, the state of public sentiment at that time. 

In the following year, 1820, Congress gave the crowning act to her 
legislation upon this subject, by the passage of the law declaring the 
slave trade piracy. Tiiis decisive measure, the first of the kind 
among nations, and which stamped the slave trade with deserved 
infamy, it should be remembered, was recommended by a committee 
of the House in a Report founded on a memorial of the Colonization 
Society. Thus terminated the legislative measures adopted by our 
Government for the suppression of the slave trade. 

We shall now turn to Great Britain, the most extensive participator 
in this iniquitous traffic, and ascertain the success of the measures 
adopted for its suppression in that direction. 

Through the eflbrts of Wilberforce and his co-adjutors, the British 
Parliament passed an act in 1806, which was to take effect in 1808, 
by which the slave trade was forever prohibited to her West India 
Colonies. But the want of wisdom and foresiglit involved in the 
measures adopted to accomplish tliis great work, soon became mani- 
fest. Had Great Britain prevailed upon or compelled Portugal and 
Spain to unite with her, the annihilation of the slave trade might 
have been eflected. The traffic being abandoned by England, and 
left free to all others, was continued under the flags of Portugal and 
Spain, and tiieir tropical colonies soon received such large accessions 



The Slave Trade. 7 

of slaves, as to enable them to begin to rival Great Britain in the 
supply oi tropical products to the markets of the world, ^s, 

But the philanthropic Wilberforce persevered in his efforts, and, 
after a struggle of thirty years, succeeded in procuring the passage of 
the Act of' Parliament, in 1824, declaring the slave trade piracy. 
'I'liis was four years after the passage of the Act of our Congress 
which declared it piracy, and subjected those engaged therein to the 
penalty of death. 

This decisive action of the two Governments was hailed with joy 
by tlie philanthropists of the world, and their efforts were now put 
forth to influence all the other Christian powers to unite in the sup- 
pression of this horrible traffic. Tlieir exertions were ultimately 
crowned with success, and their joy was unbounded. England, 
France, the United States, and tlie other Christian powers, not only 
declared it piracy, but agreed to employ an armed force for its sup- 
pression. This engagement, however, was not carried out by all of 
the Governments who had assented to the proposition; yet, still, the 
hope was conddently entertained that the day for the destruction of 
the slave trade had come, and that this reproach of Christian nations 
would be blotted out for ever. 

But, alas, how short-sighted is man, and how futile, often, his 
reatest eflbrts to do good. The vanity of human wisdom and the 
utter imbecility of human legislation, in the removal of moral evil, 
was never more signally shown than in this grand struggle for the 
suppression of the slave trade. Instead of having been checked and 
suppressed, and the demons in human form who carried it on having 
been deterred from continuing the traffic by the dread penally of death, 
as was confidendy anticipated, it has gone on increasing in extent and 
with an accumulation of horrors that surpass belief. A glance at its 
history proves this but too fully, and shows that the warfiirre between 
good and evil is one of no ordinary magnitude. 

Edwards, the historian of the West Indies, states, that the import- 
ation of slaves from Africa, in British vessels, from 1680 to 1786, 
averaged 20,000 annually. In 1792, Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt both 
aefreed in estimating the numbers torn from Africa at 80,000 per 
annum. From 1798 to 1810, recent English Parliamentary docu- 
ments show the numbers exported from Africa to have averaged 85, 
000 per annum, and the mortality during the voyage to have been 
14 per cent. From 1810 to 1815 the same documents present an 
average of 93,000 per annum, and the loss durino- the middle passage 
to have equalled that of the preceding peiiod. From 1815 to 1819 
the export of slaves had increased to 106,000 annually, and the 
mortality during the voyage to 25 per cent. 

Here, then, is brouglit to view the extent of the evil which called 
for such energetic action, and which, it was hoped, could be easily 
crushed by legislation. Let us now look forward to the results. 

While the slave trade was sanctioned by law, its extent could be as 
easdy ascertained as that of any other branch of commerce; but after 
that period, the estimates of its extent are only approximations. 



8 The Slave Trade 

The late Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton devoted himself with un 
weaned industry to the investigation of tiie extent and enormities of the 
foreign slave trade. His labors extended through many years, and 
the results, as published in 1840, sent a thrill of horror throughout 
the Cln-istian world. He proved, conclusively, that the victims to 
tlie slave trade, in Jlfrica, amounted annually to 500,000. This 
included the numbers who perish in the seizure of the victims, in the 
wars of the natives upon each other, and the deaths during their 
marcli to the coast and the detention there before embarkation. This 
loss he estimates at one half, or 500 out of every 1000. 'J'he destruc- 
tion of life during the middle passage he estimates at 25 percent., or 
125 out of the remaining 500 of the original thousand. The mortal- 
ity after landing and in seasoning he shows is 20 per cent, or one-fifth 
of the 375 survivors. Thus he proves that the number of lives 
sacrificed by the system, bears to the number of slaves available to 
the planter, the proportion oi seven io three — that is to say, for every 
300 slaves landed and sold in the market, 700 have fallen victims to 
the deprivations and cruelties connected with the traffic. 

The parliamentary documents above referred to vary but little from 
the estimates of Mr. Buxton, excepting that they do not compute the 
number of victims desli'oyed in Africa in their seizure and transporta- 
tion to the coast. The following table, extracted from these docu- 
ments, presents the average number of slaves exported from Africa to 
America, and sold chiefiy in Brazil and Cuba, with the per cent 
amount of loss ia the periods designated. 

•p, , Annual average A v'ge casualties of voyage. 

■ numlier exporled. Per Ct. Amount. 



1798 to 1805 


85,000 


14 


12,000 


1805 to 1810 


85,000 


14 


12,000 


1810 to 1815 


93,000 


14 


13,000 


1815 to 1817 


100,000 


25 


26,600 


1817 to 1819 


106,000 


25 


26,600 


1819 to 1825 


103,000 


25 


25,800 


1825 to 1830 


125,000 


25 


31,000 


1830 to 1835 


78,500 


25 


19,600 


1835 to 1840 


135,800 


25 


33,900 



This enormous increase of the slave trade, it must be remembered, 
had taken place during the period of vigorous eflbrts for its suppres- 
sion. England, alone, according to McQueen, had expended for this 
object, up to 1842, in the employment of a naval force on the coastof 
Africa, tlie sum of $88,888,888*^, and he estimated the annual expen- 
diture at that time at $2,500,000. But it has been increased since 
that period to $3,000,000 a year, making the total expenditure of 
Great Britain, for the suppression of tiie slave trade, at the close of 
1848, more than one hundred millions cf dollars ! France and the 
United States have also expended a large amount for this object. 

Tiie disclosures of Mr. Buxton produced a profound sensation 
throughout England, and the conviction was forced upon the public 
mind, and " upon Her Majesty's confidential advisers," that the 



The Slave Trade. 9 

slave trade could not be suppressed by physical force, and that it 
was " indispensable to enter upon some new preventive system 
calculated to arrest the foreign slave trade." 

The remedy proposed and attempted to be carried out, was " the 
deliverance of Africa by caUins: forth her own resources." 

To accomplish this great work, the capitalists of England were to 
set on foot agricultural companies, who, under the protection of the 
Government, should obtain lands by treaty with the natives, and 
employ them in its tillage, — to send out trading ships and open 
factories at the most commanding positions, — to increase and con- 
centrate the English naval force on the coast, and to make treaties 
with the chiefs of the coast, the rivers and the interior. These 
measures adopted, the companies formed were to call to their aid 
a race of teachers of African blood, from Sierra Leone and the West 
Indies, who should labor with the whites in diflusing intelligence, in 
imparting religious instruction, in teaching agriculture, in establishing 
and encouraging legitimate commerce, and in impeding and suppress- 
ing the slave trade. In conformity with these views and aims, the 
African Civilization Society was formed, and the Government fitted 
out three large iron steamers, at an expense of $300,000, for the use 
of the company. 

Mr. McQueen, who had for more than twenty years devoted him- 
self to the consideration of Africa's redemption and Britain's glory, 
and who had become the most perfect master of African geography 
and African resources, also appealed to the Government, and urged 
the adoption of measures for making cdl Africa a dependency of 
the British Empire. Speaking of what England had already accom- 
plished, and of what she could yet achieve, he exclaims : 

"Unfold the map of the worhi : "We command the Ganges. 
Fortified at Bombay, the Indus is our own. Possessed of the islands 
in the mouth of the Persian Gulf, we command the outlets of Persia 
and the mouths of the Euphrates, and consequently of countries the 
cradle of the human race. We command at the Cape of Good 
Hope. Gibraltar and Malta belonging to us, we control the Mediter- 
ranean. Let us plant the British standard on the island of Socatora 
— upon the island of Fernando Po, and inland upon the banks of the 
Niger; and then we may say Asia and Africa, for all their productions 
and all their wants, are under our control. It is in our power. 
Nothing can prevent us." 

But Providence rebuked this proud boast. The African Civilization 
Society commenced its labors under circumstances the most favorable 
for success. Its list of members embraced many of the noblest 
names of the kingdom. Men of science and intelligence embarked 
in it, and, when the expedition set sail, a shout of joy arose and a 
prayer for success ascended from ten thousand philanthropic English 
voices. 

But this magnificent scheme, fraught with untold blessings to Africa, 
and destined, it was believed, not only to regenerate her speedily, 
but to produce a revenue of unnumbered millions of dollars to the 



10 The Slave Trade. 

stockholders, proved an utter failure. The African climate, that 
deadly foe to the white man, blighted the enterprise. In a few 
months, disease and death had so far reduced tlie numbers of the 
men connected with tlie expedition, that tlie enterprise was abandon- 
ed, and the only evidence of its ever having ascended the Niger 
exists in its model farm left in the care of a Liberian. 

'I'his result, however, had been anticipated by many of the judicious 
Englishmen who had not suffered their enthusiasm to overcome their 
judgments, but who had opposed it as wild and visionary in the 
extreme, on account of the known fatality «f the climate to white 
men. 

Thus did the last direct effort of England for the redemption of 
Africa prove abortive. The slave trade has still been piosecuted 
with little abatement, and for the last ^gw years with an alarming 
increase. 'J'he statistics in the parliamentary report, before quoted, 
and from which we have extracted the table exhibiting the extent of 
the slave trade between Africa and America, down to 1839, also 
present the following table, including tlie numbers exported from 
Africa to America, from 1840 to 1847 inclusive, with the per cent, of 
loss in the mi " '" 



liddle pass 


age and the 


amount.* It is as follows 


Years. 


Numbers. 


I,oss. 








r,r n. 


^Dwunt. 


1840 


64,114 


25 


10,068 


1841 


45,097 


25 


11,274 


1842 


28,400 


25 


7,100 


1843 


55,062 


25 


13,705 


1844 


54,102 


25 


1.3,525 


1845 


30,758 


25 


9, 1 89 


1840 


76,117 


25 


19,029 


1847 


84,350 


25 


21,089 



Here, then, we iiave the melancholy truth forced upon us, that the 
slave trade was carried on as actively in 1847 as from 1798 to 1810; 
while the destruction of life during the middle passage has been 
increased from 14 percent, to 25; and that while tlie vigorous means 
used to suppress the traffic, during these fifty years, have failed of 
this end, they have greatly aggravated its horrors. 

And such was the conviction of the total inadequacy of the means 
which had been employed by the British Government to check or 
suppress the evil, that the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society 
at the close of the year 1847, after declaring that the slave trade was 
then more actively and systematically prosecuted than for many 
years, and that its horrors had been greatly increased, urged upon the 
Government, from motives of humanity, the suspension of all 
physical force, and the repeal of all laws inflicting penalties upon 

* There is some discrepancy in the authorities from which we quote the figures. 
We have not hail access to the original document. One of our authorities gives 
the whole number of these exports from Africa to Brazil, and a proportional number 
to Cuba. This would greatly increase all our estimates based ujion the figures 
of this table. 



Ttie Slave Trade. II 

those engaged in tlie trafTic. It was proved thut the slave traders, 
when closely pursued l)y vessels of war, ol'ieri liide tlie evidences of 
tlieir guilt, when favored by die darkness of tlie niglil, I)y burying the 
shivcs with which they were freighted in die depths of the ocean; or 
by persevering in refusing to surrender, force the pursuing vessels 
to continue firing into them, and thus endanger and destroy the inno- 
cent victims crowded between the decks of tlieir vessels. It was also 
urged that the African Civilization Society be revived, but tliat, instead 
of irhife 7ncn, the emigrants be taken from the beltc^r educated and 
more enlightened of the West India colored population. Hy the 
adoption of diis course, and the civilization of the Africans along the 
coast, they hope to seal the fountain whence the evil flows. 

This brief oudiue of the slave trade, and of the efforts made by 
Great IJritain for its suppression, ami the utt(!r failure of the measures 
which she had adoptiul to accomplish that oliject, prove, conclusively, 
two points which American philanthropists had for years urged as 
settled trutlis, viz : 

1. y'hat I he planting and building vp of Christian Colonics on 
the coast of Jlfiica, is the onli/ prccciical remedy for the slave trade. 

2. That colored men only, can with safety, settle upon the 
African Coast. 

And so fully has the British Government now become convinced 
< f die truth of Uiese propositions, that Lord Palmerston has not only 
placed a naval force at the disposal of the President of liiberia for 
the suppression of the slave trade on territory recently purchased, 
where the slave traders refused to leave, but has, in connection with 
others, offered ample pecuniary means to purchase the whole territory 
between Sierra Leone and Liberia, now infestcid by those traffickers 
in human flesh, wiUi the view of annexing it to the litUe Rei)ul)lic, 
and thus rescuing it from their hands. 

By this act, Englishmen have acknowledged the superiority of our 
scheme of African redemption over that of Uic philanthropists of 
Britain, and have thus given assurances to the world that tlieir plan 
of making Jlfrica a dependency of the British Crown has been 
abandoned, and diat a change of policy toward our colony has been 
adopted. All their own schemes in relation to Africa having failed, 
they are constrained to acknowledge the wisdom and success of ours, 
and are tlie first to avail Uiemselves of the commercial advantages 
afforded to the world by die creation of the Republic of Liberia. 

But we shall, under anoUier head, revert again to this subject, and 
present some facts which may serve to exi)lain the course of England 
in her sudden expression of friendship and sympathy for our Colony. 

11. The efforts made, at an early day, for the emancipation of the 
slaves in the United States, with the results. 

On this important question there was not the same unanimity of 
sentiment which had prevailed upon that of the slave trade. The 
love of case, the prospect of gain, Uie fear that so large a body of 
ignorant men would be dangerous to tlie public peace, and many 



12 



Emancipulion oj Slaves in the United States. 



other considerations, influenced the minds of a large number to 
oppose the liberation of the slaves. But, notwithstanding this oppo- 
sition, the worlv progressed, until Acts of Emancipation were carried 
through the Legishitures of all the Stales north of Delaware, Mary- 
land and Virginia. Nor was this good work conhned to the States 
wliich were engaged in legislative enactments for emancipation. The 
feelings of humanity which dictated the liberation of the slave in the 
northern States, pervaded the minds of good men in the southern 
Slates also. 

The full extent of the emancipations in the slave States cannot be 
accurately ascertained. The census tables, however, supply sufficient 
testimony on this point to enable us to reach a close approximation 
to the true number which have been liberated since 1790, when the 
first census of the United States was taken. 

The following table gives the number of free colored people in 
1790, with the nundaer in all the subsequent periods up to 1840, and 
tlie increase in each ten years, togetlier with the increase per 
cent, per annum. 

I. 

Table showing the number of the Free colored population of the 

United States. 



VEARS. 


1790 


1800 


1810 


1820 


1830 


1840 


Total number 


59,466 


108,398 


186,446 


238,197 


319,599 


386,235 


Actual increase 




48,932 


78,048 


51,751 


81,402 


66,636 


Increase per cent. 














per annum 




8.22+ 


7.20+ 


2.77+ 


3.41 + 


2.08+ 



In 1790 the feeling in favor of emancipation, it will be seen, had 
given us a free colored population of nearly 60,000 persons. What 
proportion of these were free-born cannot be determined, but it would 
probably not exceed one-half. 

The number of slaves in the free States, in 1790, and the decrease 
in each period, up to 1840, with the anniud decrease per cent, was 
as follows : 

II. 

Table exhibiting the number of Slaves in the Free States from 

1790 to 1840. 



YEARS. 


1790 


1800 


1810 


1820' 


1830 
2,774 
* 15,227 

18.88+ 


1840 


Total number 
Actual decrease 
Decrease per cent, 
per annum 


40,212 


35,803 
4,409 

1.23 + 


27,181 
8,622 

3.17+ 


18,001 
9,180 

5.04+ 


764 
2,010 

26.30+ 



The decrease of the slaves in the free States, after 1790, is not 
greater than the deaths in a population of such a class of persons. 



* By a law of New York 1 0,000 slaves were emancipated in one day in 1827, thus 
decreasing the number of slaves, and increasing the free colored, as slated in this 
table 



Emancipalion of Slaves in the United States. 



13 



Pennsylvania passed lier emancipation act in 1780, and the other 
states soon afterward followed her example, but at what periods we 
are not at present informed.* It is probable that the free colored 
population was not increased by emancipations of the slaves remain- 
ing in the free states after 1790, because, as before stated, the decrease 
of these slaves did not exceed the mortality, excepting in 1827, when 
New York liberated all hers then remaining in bondage. Any in- 
crease of the free colored population, therefore, over their natural 
increase will have been produced bi/ emancipations in the slave 
stales. 

The following table, taken in connection with table I, shows, that 
from 1830 to 1840 the increase of the free colored population was 
reduced to but a very small fraction over two per cent, per annum. 
Two per cent, per annum, therefore, may be taken as the ratio of 
the natural increase of the free colored population. The excess 
over two per cent, must, then, have been derived from emancipations. 

III. 

Rate per cent, per annian of increase of Population of the United 
States. 



Years. 


Whites. 


Free colored 


Slaves. 


Free colored 
and Slaves. 

3.22 


All 
combined. 


1790 to 1800 


3.56 


8.22 


2.79 


3.50 


1800 to 1810 


3.61 


7.20 


3.34t 


3.75 


3.64 


1810 to 1820 


3.43 


2.77 


2.95 


2.93 


3.33 


1820 to 1830 


3.38 


3.41 


3.01 


3.06 


3.32 


1830 to 1840 


3.46 


2.08 


2.32 


2.33 


3.26 


Avernge 


3.48 


4.73 


2.88 


3.06 


3.41 



Adopting this rule of computation, we find that the emancipations 
in the slave stales, from 1790 to 1830, must have been 131,700. If 
to this v/e add one-half of the number who were free in 1790, or 
30,000, it makes the total emancipations up to 1830 amount to 161, 
700. The extent of the pecuniary sacrifice made to the cause of 
emancipation by benevolent men involved in slavery, will be better 
understood by estimating the number emancipated at $350 each, 
which gives a product of $56,595,000. This estimated value is low 
enough. 

To this sum, however, should be added the number of slaves 
emancipated and sent to Liberia, which, up to 1843, amounted to 
2,290. If to these are added the emancipated slaves sent out to 

* We find the following statement in relation to the number of slaves in the 
United States at an earlier period, in the American Almanac. At the time 
of the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, the whole number of slaves was 
estimated at 500,000, viz. : 

Massachusetts, 3,000 New Jersey, 

Rhode Island, 4,370 Pennsylvania 

Connecticut, 5,000 Delaware, 9.000 

New Hampshire, 629 Maryland, 80,000 

New York, 15,000 Virginia, 165,000 Total, 501,599. 

t It should have been stated that Louisiana was admitted between 1800 and 
1810, bringing in 39,000 Africans. This produced the increase of the ratio for 1810. 



7,600 N.Carolina, 76,000 
10,000 S. Carolina, 110,000 
Georgia, 16,000 



14 Emancipation of Slaves in the United States. 

Africa since that period, the number of which we cannot at present as- 
ceitain, we shall have more than another million of dollars to add to the 
above sum, thus makino; the amount sacrificed to tlie cause of eman- 
cipation but little short of Jiffy-eighl millions of dollars. 

But in granting the slave his freedom, it seemed to be decided by 
common consent, that the British statesman was right in asserting 
that Negroes coidd not become Republicans. The right of suffrage 
was not extended to them. 'I'he stimulus of entering into competition 
for the highest posts of honor was not afforded to the man of color to 
prompt him to great mentid eflbrt. Able to find employment only in the 
more menial occupations, his opportunities for intellectual advancement 
were poor, and his prospects of moral improvement still more gloomy. 
These results of emancipation in the northern states were watched 
with great interest by the philanthropic citizens of the slave states. 
The liberation of the slaves in the free states had fallen so far short 
of securing the amount of good anticipated, that the friends of the 
colored man became less urgent and zealous in their eflbrts to secure 
further legislative action, while the opponent of the measure was 
furnished with a new argument to sustain him in his course of hostil- 
ity to emancipation, and was soon able to secure the passage of laws 
for its prohibition, under the specious plea that a large increase of the 
free colored population by emancipation could not be productive of 
good either to themselves or to the whites. 

That some powerful cause operated in checking emancipations 
after 1810, and that it again received a new impulse from 1820 to 
1830, is undeniable. The number emancipated in the slave states, 
during the several periods, as is determined by the rule before adopted, 
was as follows : 

1790 to 1800 emancipations were 37,042 
1800 to 1810 " " 36,414 

1810 to 1820 " " 14,471 

1820 to 1830 " " 33,772* 

1830 to 1840 " " 000 

From 1790 to 1810 some of the most powerful minds in the 
nation were directed to the consideration of the enormous evils of 
slavery, and tlie eflects of their labors are exhibited in the number of 
emancipations made during that period. The decline of emancipa- 
tions after 1810, we believe to be due to the cause assigned above — 
the litde benefit, apparently, which had resulted from the liberation 
of the slaves, and the consequent relaxation of effort by the friends of 
emancipation. 

The impulse given to emancipation between 1820 and 1830, it is 
believed, was caused by the favorable influences exerted by the 
Colonization Society, which enjoyed a great degree of popularity 
during this period. But from 1830 to 1840, the period when the 
Society had the fewest friends, the increase of the free colored 

*Tfie 10,000 emancipated in New York being deducted, will leave 23,772 in this 
period. 



Emancipation of Slaves in (he United States. 15 

population was reduced to only two per cent, per annum, showing 
tliat emancipations must have nearly ceased, or that the deaths among 
our free colored people are so nearly equal to the births, that some 
decisive measures are demanded, by considerations of humanity, to 
place them under circumstances more favorable than they at present 
enjoy. 

It may he well in this place to call attention to the fact, that while 
the natural increase of our free colored population cannot exceed two 
per cent, per annum, that of the slaves, notwithstanding the numerous 
emancipations, has been three per cent, per annum, excepting in the 
first period, when the disparity in the sexes produced by the slave 
trade might produce a greater mortality than would afterward occur ; 
and in the last period, between 1830 and 1840, during which the 
great revulsions in business, producing an immense number of bank- 
ruptcies in the south, caused thousands of embarrassed debtors to 
remove their slaves to Texas, beyond the reach of their creditors. 
The slaves thus removed, not being included in the census of •1840, 
caused a reduction in the ratio of our slave increase. See table III. 

Thus we find, that in the earlier periods of our history, the 
promptings of philanthropy and tlie influence of Christian principle 
produced a public sentiment which controlled legislation, and broke 
the chain of the slave. And where legislation failed, it operated with 
equal power on the hearts of men, and produced the same salutary 
effects. But while emancipation was found to have produced to tlie 
white man the richest fruits, it was observed, with painful feehngs, 
that to the colored man it had been productive of little else than the 
"Apples of Sodom.'* 

These results of emancipation led to anxious inquiries in relation 
to the disposal of the free colored population. It was nil-important, 
in the judgment of the friends of the colored man, that he should be 
placed under circumstances where the degradation of centuries might 
be forgotten, and where he might become an honor to his race and a 
benefactor to the world. The conviction forced itself upon their 
minds, that a separate political, organization — a Government of 
his oivn, rchere lie would be free in fact as icell as in name — was 
the only means by which they could fully discharge the debt due to 
him, and place him in a position where his prospects of advancement 
would be based upon a sure foundation. 

These remarks bring us to the consideration of the third branch 
of our subject. 

III. The provision to be made for the people of color when 
liberated. 

A separate political organization was decided upon, and Coloniza- 
tion, at a distant point, beyond the influence of the whites, considered 
the only means of future security to the colored man. To select the 
field for the founding of the future African Empire was not such an 
easy task. The history of the Indian tribes had proved, but i09 
forcibly, that an establishment upon the territory of the United States 



16 Colonization (a Liberia. 

would soon become unsafe, in consequence of the rapid and universal 
extension of tlie white population. The unsettled state of the South 
American Republics was considered as offering still less security 
Europe had no room for them, nor desire to possess them. England 
has already removed those cast upon herself and her Canadian pos- 
sessions, by the casualties of war, back again to Africa, and founded 
her Colony of Sierra Leone. The only remaining point was Africa. 
Its western coast wms of most easy access, being but litde further from 
us than Havre or Liverpool. The condition of its native population 
off'ered many obstacles to the establishment of a colony. But the 
inducements to select it as the field of the enterprise in contempla- 
tion were also many. It was the land of the fathers of those who 
were to emigrate. It was deeply sunk in both moral and intellectual 
darkness. The lowest rites of Pagan worship were widely practised. 
Human sacrifices extensively prevailed, and even cannibalism often 
added its horrors to fill up the picture of its dismal degradation. 
And, as though the Spirit of Evil had resolved on concentrating in 
one point all the enormities that could be invented by the fiends of 
the nether pit, the slave trade was added to the catalogue, to stimulate 
the worst passions of the human heart, and produced evelopments 
of wickedness and of cruelty, at the bare recital of which humanity 
shudders. Except a few points, no ray of moral light, to guide to 
a blissful eternity, had yet penetrated the more than midnight moral 
darkness which had for ages shrouded the land. The deadly inllu- 
ence of the climate, together with the interference of the slave trade, 
had hitherto defeated the success of missionary efTort, and there 
seemed to be no hope for the moral renovation of Africa but through 
the agency of men of African blood, whose constitutions could be- 
come adapted to the climate, and who could thus gain a foothold upon 
the continent, repel the slave traders, and introduce civilization and 
the gospel. 

Here, then was a field for the action of the freed-men of the United 
States. Here was a theater upon which to exhibit before the world 
the capacities of the colored race. Here, too, could be solved the 
problem of the value of the republican form of government. And, 
above all, here could be fully tested the regenerating, the elevating, 
and the humanizing power of the gospel of Christ. 

In commencing the setdement of a colony of colored persons on 
the coast of Africa, two objects were to be accomplished: 

1. To improve the condition of the free colored people of the 
United States. 

2. To civilize and christianize Afiica. 

To these objects the friends of the colored man devoted themselves. 
The first emigrants were sent out in 1820. The pecuniary means 
of the society were never very great, and its progress in sending out 
emigrants and in building up the colony has necessarily been slow. 
From the first it met with violent opposition from the slave traders on 
the coast of Africa, who, by creating the impression upon the minds 
of the naUves that the colonists would prevent their further connectioi. 



Colonization to Liberia. 11 

with the slave trade, and thus cut off their chief source of acquiring 
wealth, inflamed the minds of the chiefs, and prompted them to make 
war upon tlie colonists. Soon after the settlement of the colony, the 
native warriors, one thousand strong, attacked the emigrants, who 
numbered but thirty-five effective men. But a kind Providence 
sliieUled them from the infuriated savages who assailed them, and 
enabled that handful of men to defeat their foes, in two successive 
assaults, separated from each other by several weeks of time, and, 
finally, to establish themselves in peace in all their borders. 

Additional emigrants, from year to year, were sent out. Mission- 
aries labored, with more or less faithfulness, in establishing schools 
and in preaching tlie gospel. The natives, in a few years, became 
convinced that the colonies were their true friends, and that the 
adoption of civilized habits would secure to them greater comforts 
than could be obtained by a continuation of the slave trade. Their 
children were sent to school with those of the colonists. A moral 
renovation commenced and progressed until, in the course of twenty- 
six years from the landing of the first emigrants at Monrovia, tlie 
colony attained a condition of strengtli warranting its erection into an 
Independent Republic. Accordingly, in July, 1847, its independence 
Was declared, and a population of 80,000 adopted the constitution and 
laws, and became members of the Republic. Its newly-elected 
President, J. J. Roberts, a man of color, in his recent visit to 
Em^'land, France and Germany, was treated with great respect, and 
found no difficulty in securing the acknowledgment of the indepen- 
dence of the Republic of Liberia by the two former governments. 

But it may be said, that, after all, but lilde has been done, compared 
with the means expended, in this effort to make provision for the 
free colored people, and for the introduction of a Christian civilization 
into Africa. A more striking view of the results will be brought out 
by contrasting the products of the laoors of the Americai'i Coloniza- 
tion Society with some of die other efforts which have been made to 
rescue Africa from the wrongs inflicted upon her. 

England, mighty in power, and possessing the means of executing 
magnificent enterprises, has expended, as already stated, more than 
one hundred m.illidns of dollars for the suppression of the slave trade 
and the civilization of Africa. But her labors and her treasures have 
been spent in vain. Her gold might belter have been sunk in the 
ocean. The monster, hydra-like, when smitten and one head severed 
from the body, has constantly reproduced two in its place; and, at 
this moment, as before shown, it is prosecuted with greater activity 
than for many years. 

It must be remembered that these efforts of Greiit Britain have 
been made during the period of the existence of the American Col- 
onization Society, and in seeming contempt of its pigmy efforts. For 
years previous to the independence of Liberia, and while England 
was aiming at making Africa a dependency of her Crown, she, on 
several occasions, manifested a disposition to cripple the energies of 
our colony. And so extensive were the agencies she seems to have 



l8 Colonization to Liberia. 

employed, that it is now matter of wonder that she had not succeeded 
in wholly crushing the colonization enterprise, and securing to herself 
the control of that richest of all the tropical portions of tlie world. 
But all her efforts at checking the progress of this heaven-horn enter- 
prise have been as fruitless as those adopted by her in reference to 
the slave trade, or for civilizing Africa. The fact stands acknow- 
ledged before the world, that Great Britain, after the expenditure of 
more than one hundred millions of dollars, has filled in suppressing the 
slave trade on one mile of coast beyond the limits of her colonies; 
wliile our colonization elibrts have swept it from nearly ybwr hundred 
miles of coast, where it formerly existed in its chief strength. 

But why is it that there is such a marked indifference in the results? 
Why is it that the Colonization Society, witli a yearly income some- 
times of only $10,000, and rarely ever reaching $50,000, should have, 
in twenty -six years, annihilated the slave trade on 400 miles of coast, 
and secured the blessings of freedom to 80,000 men, formerly slaves, 
and have succeeded in binding, by treaties, 200,000 more, never again 
to engage in the traffic in their brethren, — while Great Britain, with 
all her wealth and power, has accomplis-hed nothing? 

We will not undertake to answer these questions. It cannot 
always be discerned by men why the Ruler of the Universe often 
defeats the best devised human schemes, which to them may seem 
certain of success ; and prospers those which, to human foresight, 
were the least promising. We need only remind you that Great 
Britain has relied, almost exclusively, upon the employment of 
physical force to accomplish her purposes, while the Colonization 
Society has depended, as exclusively, upon moral means. The 
agencies it has employed have been tlie humble mechanic, the hus- 
bandman, the school-master, the missionary, and the Bible. And, 
though often thwarted in its purposes by those who felt interested in 
its overthrow, yet, relying upon moral means, and never resorting to 
force but in self-defense, it has signally triumphed and put to shame 
the wisdom of men and the power of kingdoms. Its operations have 
proved that the schoolmaster, the missionary, and the Bible, possess a 
moral power infinitely more potent than coronets and crowns. 

These lesults go very far toward proving the truth of the proposi- 
tion, announced in the outset, — that the Gospel of Christ is the 
medium through which God operates in bringing mankind into sub- 
jection to his will, and that a reliance upon any other means for the 
moral redemption of the nations of the world, must prove an utter 
failure. 

In view of all these results, we are fully warranted in maintaining 
that the Colonization Society, in its measures for benefitting the 
colored people, has done an incalculable amount of good, and demands 
our confidence and our support, and that it is justly entitled to the 
paternity of three measures which have been productive of the great- 
est good to Africa : 

1. The procuring of the first legal enactments declaring the slave 
trade piracy. 



Colonization to Liberia. 



19 



2. The total extinction of that cruel traffic from near 400 miles of 
the coast of Africa. 

3. Tlie establishment of an Independent Christian RepubUc on 
that continent. 

There is another feature of this question, of the disposal of the 
free cohered population of the United Slates, which demands attention, 
and is of the utmost importance in selecting for them a home. The 
northern latitudes of the United Slates do not furnish a suitable 
home for men of African descent. The evidence of the truth of 
this proposition is furnished by their own movements when left free 
to act. The census tables supply the testimony upon this subject. 

By referring to table III, it will be seen that the ratio of the natural 
increase of the free colored population is two per cent, per annum. 
The knowledge of this fact furnishes the key to determine the in- 
crease or decrease, by emigration, in any state or group of states. 

IV. 
Free colored population in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont. 



YEARS. 


1799. 
13,126 

3,886 


1800. 

T7,3l'7 

4,191 

3.19 
1,340 


1810. 

19,488 
2,171 

1.25 

418 


1820. 

"21,248 
1,760 

0.90 
145 


1830. 

21,331 

83 

0.03 

48 


1840. 


Total luimber 
Actual increase 
Increase per cent. 

per annum 
Slaves in do. 


122,634 
1,303 

0.61 
23 



In tlie prosecution of the investigation of the question before us, 
the effect of climate upon the .fifican constitution, we find that 
previous to 1790, the desire of the manumitted slave to escape from 
the scenes of his oppressions had given to tlie six New England 
states a free colored population of 13,1 26. From 1790 to 1800 the 
census tables show that the line of emigration was still northward, 
and augmented their ratio of increase more than one-third over the 
natural" rate. But during the next forty years, ending with 1840, 
their ratio of increase, as shown in table IV, was rapidly diminished, 
and fell so far below the ratio of their naturnl increase, that from 1820 
to 1830, with a free colored population of 21,248, they had an in- 
crease in these ten years of only eighty-three persons. The aggre- 
gate for the whole period stands thus: In 1810 they had a free 
colored population of 19,488. and in 1840 but 22,634, being an in- 
crease of only 3,146; while their natural increase, if retained, would 
have augmented their numbers to 33,648. This diminution nuist 
have been caused by emigration back again toward the south, 
because we find that New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, had 
a corresponding increase during this period, with the exception of 
the last ten years, when they also lost a portion of their natural 
increase. 

But this tendency ot colored men to avoid northern latitudes is 
quite as fully proved by a comparison of the northern parts of New 



20 Influence of Climate on Colored Men. 

York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with their southern portions, as it is 
exhibited in the case of the New England States, when compared 
with those further south. Take, for example, a few of the counties 
in the north-east of Ohio. In 1840, Geauga had only 3 persons of 
color, Ashtabula 17, Lake 21, Portage 39, Summit 42, Medina 13, 
Lorain 62, Trumbull 70, and Cuyahoga, including the city of Cleve- 
land, 121, in all 388. Now look at a few of the counties bordering 
the slave states and in the more southern part of the state. Belmont, 
in 1810, had 724, Gallia 799, Highland 780, Brown 614, Ross 1195, 
Franklin 805, and Hamilton 2546. 

This contrast, which might be extended much further, reveals the 
fact, that any one of the last named counties, in the southern portion 
of the state, had nearly double, and several of them more than 
double the number of colored persons that tlie whole eight northern 
counties above named included. 

But to give a more forcible illustration of the truth of our proposi- 
tion, allow me to extend this contrast between the northern and 
southern counties of Ohio, so as to include the whole free colored 
population of the state. By drawing a line east and west across the 
state, so as to divide its territory into about equal parts, giving an 
excess of counties, as now divided, to the north, the result is, that in 
1840, the 38 northern counties, now divided into 42, included only 
2,360 persons of color, wliile the 40 counties of the southern half 
embraced a colored population of 15,000. And if we deduct Stark, 
Columbiana and Harrison on the east, and Mercer on the west, from 
the northern counties, they will have left, in the 36 remaining coun- 
ties, a free colored population of only 1372, or a little more than half 
the number in Hamilton county. I append the list of all the coun-^ 
ties, that it may be accessible to those who may wish to prosecute 
this investigation.* 

After making all due allowance for the alledged defect of energy in 
the colored man, as accounting for his not seeking a residence in the 
north ; and what has still more influence on his mind — the greater 
indulgence which he finds from the planter of the south, now settled 
in our more southern counties, than he does from the northern man 
who is a stranger to his h;ibits, — there is, we affirm, ample testimony 
to prove, that the northern latitudes of the United States do not furnish 
a suitable climate for men of African blood, and that they are con- 
gregating as far south as circumstances will permit. This fact, we 
insist, proves conclusively the necessity of securing a tropical Jiome 
for colored men. 

But in addition to all the foregoing details, which prove the inadapt- 
ation of northern laUtudes to the African, we have, very recenUy, the 
fact revealed to us in a late census of Upper Canada, that in that 
province, where we had been a thousand times assured that from 
20,000 to 25,000 runaway slaves from the United States had ibund 
refuge, there were, in 1847, barely 5,571 colored persons in the 

*See Note, page 21. 



Influence of Climate on Colored Men. 



21 



colony. In this statement, however, which includes the whole 
twenty districts, there may be an error in one of them whicli may 
vary this result. 

But 1 cannot dismiss this part of our subject without a few remarks. 
The citizens of our northern counties often cliarge us, of the south- 
ern, with being destitute of the ordinary feelings of humanity and 
benevolence, because we are disposed to discourage the further immi- 
gration of colored men into the state, and because we advocate a 
separation of the races by colonization. And this they do with an 
apparent seriousness that warrants us in concluding that they believe 
what they say. Perhaps if we had only three to a county, like old 

The following statement, referred to on the previous page, gives the colored popu- 
lation of Ohio in the several counties, commencing at the northern and southern 
extremities, as presented in the census of 1810. 



Hamilton, 2576 

Clermont 123 

Brown, 614 

Adams, 63 

Scioto, 206 

Lawrence, • • 148 

Gallia 799 

Meigs, 28 

Jackson, ■ . • 31o 

Pike, 329 

Highland, ''86 

Butler, • • . 254 

Warren, 341 

Clinton, 377 

Ross 119t 

Hocking, 46 

Athens, • • 55 

Washington, 269 

Monroe, 13 

Morgan, 68 

Perry, . • 47 

Fairfield, 312 

Pickaway, 333 

Fayette, 239 

Greene, 344 

Clark, 200 

Montgomery, 376 

Preble, 88 

Darke, 200 

Miami, . . . • 211 

Shelby, 262 

Logan 407 

Champaign, 328 

Madison, 97 

Franklin, 805 

Licking, 140 

Muskingum, 562 

Guernsey, 190 

Belmont, 742 

Jefterson, 497 



Ashtabula, 17 

Lake, 21 

Geauga, 3 

Cuyahoga 121 

Trumbull, . . • 70 

Portage, 39 

Summit, 43 

Medina, 13 

Lorain, 62 

Erie 97 

Huron 106 

Sandusky, 41 

Ottawa, 5 

Seneca, 65 

Wood, 33 

Lucas, 54 

Henry 6 

Williams 2 

Paulding, 

Van Wert • . 

Mercer, 204 

Allen, 23 

Hancock, 8 

Hardin, 4 

Marion, 52 

Crawford, 5 

Richland, SS 

Wayne, 41 

Holmes, 3 

Stark, 204 

Carroll, 49 

Columbiana, 417 

Harrison, 163 

Tuscarawas, 71 

Coshocton, 38 

Knox, 63 

Delaware, 76 

Union, • . . 78 

Morrow, 
Mahoning, 
Auglaize, 
Defiance. 



22 



Injlnence of Climate and Foreign Emigralion. 



Geaug^a, we, loo, might be disposed to catch them for pets, to amuse 
our children, as we do mocking birds and paroquets. But with us 
the novelty oi seeing a colored man has long since passed away, and 
we no longer make pets of them, on account of color, but treat them 
precisely as we do oilier men. The upright and industrious we respect 
and encourage. The immoral and degraded we wish anywhere else 
than in our liouseliolds or as near neighbors. 



Free colored population in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsyl- 
vania. 



YKARS. 


1790 


1800 


1810 
"5"5;668 


1820 


1830 


1840 


Total number 


13,953 


29,340 


74,742 


101,103 


118,925 


Actual increase 




15,387 


26,328 


19,074 


26,321 


17,822 


Increase per cent 














per annum 




11.02 


8.97 


3.42 


3. 5 J 


1.76 


Slaves in do. 


36,484 

• 


34,471 26,663 


17,856 


2,732 


742 



But in addition to climate, the colored man has another formidable 
adversary to contend with. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsyl- 
vania, as before slated, and as the figures in table V show us, had 
accessions to their colored population much beyond the natural in- 
crease on their original numbers up till 1830. But from 1830 to 1840 
these states also commenced repelling their free colored population, 
and their ratio of increase was reduced considerably below two per 
cent, per annum — Pennsylvania, however, still having a ratio of 2 yVo' 
showing that she had not been as much allected as the other two 
states, though between 1820 and 1830 her ratio had been reduced to 
1 -jYij per cent, per annum. 

VI. 
Free colored population of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. 

1820 j 1830 i 1840" 

~89;8T7| n GTiTlj 128/781 

12,184, 26,324! 12,640 

I 

1.55i 2.93i 1.08 

537,060 576,043,530,087 



YEARS. 


1790 


1800 


1810 


Total number 
Actual increase 
Increase per cent, 

per annum 
Slaves 


24,718 
405,350 


47,979 
23,261 

9.41 
457,584 


77,633 
29,654 

6.i:< 

508,197 



VII. 

Free colored populatio)i of North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
Georgia. 



YEARS. 


1790 1 1800 


1810 


1820 


1830 


1840 


Total number 


7,174 11,247 


16,621 


23,205 


29,950 


33,761 


Actual incraase 




4,073 


5,374 


6,584 


6,745 


3,811 


Increase per cent. 














per annum 




5.67 


4.77 


3.96 


2.90 


1.27 


Slaves 


236,930 338,851 


470,407 


613,148 


778,533 


853,799 



Injluence of Slavery and Foreign Emigration. 



23 



Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
and Georgia, also repulsed nearly one-half of their natural increase 
between 1830 and 1840, as exhibited in tables VI and VII, showing 
that the emigration from the northern states was not passing in that 
direction, 

VIII. 
Free colored population of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Jllabama. 



YEARS. 


1790 
475 


1800 
1,050 


1810 


1820 


1830 


1840 


Total number 


3,030 


6,353 


11,044 


14,880 


Actual increase 




575 


1,980 


3,323 


3,691 


a,836 


Increase per cpni. 














per annum 




12.10 


18.85 


10.96 


7.35 


3.47 


Slaves 


15,247 


53,927 


125,096254,278 


424,365 


618,849 



Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, though for a time, receiving 
large accessions of free colored people emigrating, probably, from 
Virginia and North Carolina, westward into their bounds, seem also 
to have checked it, between 1830 and 1840, to a considerable extent. 
But as more energetic measures have since been adopted to repel all 
immigration, extending even to the selling of the intruders info 
slavery, as was tlie case last year in Kentucky ; the census of 1850 
will no doubt exhibit a reduction of the ratio of these states, also, to 
the natural rate of increase, if not below it. 

Louisiana, alone, of all the larger slave states, has maintained a 
uniform increase of her free colored population. Her position on 
the Mississippi aflbrds great facilities to enterprising colored men, 
wishing to escape from the rigors of northern winters, to penetrate 
her territory. 

IX. 
Free colored population of Louisiana. 



YKARS. 


1790 


1800 


1810 


1820 

^To/Jmi 

:j,:n5 

4.44 
69,064 


1830 
16,710 
5,750 

5.24 

109,588 


1840 


Total number 
Actual increase 
Increase per cent. 

per annum 
Slaves 






7,585 
34,660 


25,502 
8,792 

5.26 

168,452 



In the slave states, the prejudices and the rigid laws in relation 
to their free colored people, will account for the losses which they 
have sustained. But in New York and New Jersey, some other 
cause must have exerted a repelling influence, or there would not 
have been such a desertion of that region by colored men. This 
cause will, we believe, be found to exist in the foreign einis^ration 
into our country. The foreign emigrant, escaping from the tyranny 
of the despotisms which have so long crushed his energies, and 
where he had been accustomed to work for a mere subsistence, is 
overjoyed, on reaching this country, to receive a rate of wages for 
which the colored man is unwilling to labor. He is thus the most 



24 



Injluence of Slavery and Foreign Emigration. 



formidable rival of the colored man, and supplants him in his employ- 
ments and drives him from his temporary home. But while this 
rivalry of the forrigner, (he priju.lice of the slave holder, and the 
influtnce of climate, seem to create insuperable obstacles to the 
success of anv scheme of securing to colored men a permanent home 
in the north, it affords a stron<r proof of the wisdom of the scheme of 
African Colonization, where the rivalry of white men and the influ- 
ence of climate, or the prejudice against color, can never reach him 
or interrupt him in his pursuits. 

But there is still another subject connected with the movements of 
the free colored people which greatly interests the citizens of Ohio. 
We have seen that a regular movement of the free colored population, 
from north to south, has been in progress ever since 1800, and that it 
was only checked, in its southern course, by reaching the borders of 
the slave states. But after 1830 this floating mass took a new direc- 
tion. As the foreign emigration first touches the eastern coast, its 
effects are tirst felt there, and from thence it rolls westward. While 
the current of tlie colored emigration, therefore, is setting in from the 
north, it is met bv this opposing tide from the east, and dcllected to 
the west. 

On turninsi to the west, we find that while this continuous stream 
of colored emigration has been pourin^ out of all tlie states north-cast, 
east, and south-east of us, they have been concentrating with almost 
equal rapidity in the Ohio valley. 

X. 
Free colored popidation in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. 



YK.\RS. 


1790 


1800 


1810 


1820 


1830 


1840 


Total number 
Actual increase 
Increase per cent, 
per annum 




500 


2,905 
2,405 

48.10 


6.598 
3,693 

12.71 


14.834 
8,236 

12.48 


28,105 
13,271 

8.94 



Look at the figures in table X. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, in 
1800, had 500 free persons of color in their bounds. In 1840 they 
numbered 28,105. If the influx, since 1840. has been as great as in 
the preceding period, these three states will have a free colored popu- 
lation, at present, of over 50,000, of which the share of Ohio is 
30,000. 

To afford a more siriking contrast of tlie position in which we 
stand, as compared with the six New England States, it is only 
necessary to say, that the ratio of the annual increase of the free 
colored population of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, from 1820 to 1830, 
doubled thiir mnnbers in eight yars, while that of the former six 
states would require, to double theirs, a period of two hundred and 
fifty six years. 

But to avoid a charge of unfliirness in selecting a period of only 
ten years, and that the most favorable to our purpose, we sliall extend 
the contrast to forty years, from 1840 back to 1800, and the result is 



Free Colored Emigration into Ohio. 25 

still more startling. During this period of forty years, the six New 
England Slates did not increase their colored population quite one 
third, ( it was ^\-"- ) while Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, have doubled 
fifty-five times on their original numbers. Our increase, therefore, 
when compared \\'\\\\ theirs for a period of 'orly years, stands as 55 
to i. 

Here, now, is presented a condition of things which demands the 
attention of the Legislature and the people of Ohio. \\e have, for 
years, been disposed to evade the question of the provision to be 
made for the people of color. The causes operating to concentrate 
them in the Ohio valley are beyond our control, and they must con- 
tinue to congregate here. Nor can we check this movement by any 
ordinary precautions, were we disposed to make the efibrt, because 
we cannot, by any legislation of ours, reach the causes which compel 
them to leave the other states. We cannot change tlie climate of the 
north-east, nor mold the African constitution so that it may endure 
the rigors of its winters ; and much less can we impart to the colored 
man a spirit of energy and activity in business which shall enable 
him to compete with the New Englander. We are still less able to 
roll back the mighty wave of foreign emigration, which, annually, 
supplies to the east a surplus of cheap labor, and drives the man of 
color from his employments, and compels him to wander to the west 
in search of bread. And it is still more impracticable for us to 
induce the slave states to repeal the laws and give up the prejudices 
which drive out the free colored man from amongst them. The 
colored people, if disposed, cannot extend westward and southward. 
The iron wall of slavery and the prohibitions in tlie new constitutions 
of Illinois and Iowa, will prevent emigration in that direction. They 
are, therefore, shut up, imprisoned among us, and instead of any 
diminution, w-e must prepare for an increase of their numbers. 

It is a fact well understood, that in the slave states, no movement, 
involving emancipation to any great extent, can now take place 
except in connection icith the removal of the freedmen from 
among them. Some of them at present talk of emancipation and 
colonization in Africa, but if we should open our doors as widely as 
many desire, the slave holder need not tax himself with the expense 
of the passage of his slaves to Liberia. It will be cheaper and less 
troublesome to let them alone, and they will soon put themselves 
under the care of their loving brothers across the Ohio river. And, 
in adopting this course, the slave holder may feel that he is conferring 
a favor upon us, because, on several occasions, where masters had 
emancipated their slaves, and started them for Liberia, they have been 
persuaded to escape to Ohio or Pennsylvania. 

Several of the border states will, before many years, become free 
states, because of the growing conviction among the people that the 
presence of slaves upon their soil has created a blighting influence — 
that it has paralyzed the physical and moral energies of the wiiite 
youth — that until the slaves are removed, the sons of their yeomanry 
will not engage in field labor, and that until this revolution is etlecied 



26 Free Colored Emigralion into Ohio. 

the slave states cannot prosper as the free states have clone. They 
are further convinced that the presence of colored people, as free 
laborers, will exert equally as baneful an effect upon the industry of 
the w^hites, as the presence of the slave has done. We have failed, 
in a twenty years war of words, to change these opinions. They 
know that their sons scorn the idea of laboring upon an equality with 
men of servile origin. This may all be wrong, but that does not 
alter the fact. The people of tlie slave states will never consent to 
emancipation, but in connection with the removal of the freednien. 
This is their fixed purpose : and any measure for the melioration of 
the condition of the colored man which does not include this fact, 
and adapt itself to it, will be so far defective. 

Now, it seems evident, that to whatever extent emancipation may 
take place, whether by individuals or by states ; and furdier, to what- 
ever degree the slave states may carry their hostility to the free 
colored people among them, and succeed in driving them out; to 
the same extent may we expect to be made the receivers of the un- 
fortunate wanderers, unless we can divert the current of emigration 
in some other direction. 

With all these facts before us — the influence of climate — die rival- 
ry of the foreign emigrant — tlie prejudices of the slave holder — tlie 
adverse legislation of the slave states — the rapid concentration of the 
free colored people along the southern margin of the Ohio valley — 
and the impracticability of their emigrating further south or west — it 
must be apparent, at once, that we occupy a very different position 
from that of the New England States and the northern counties of 
Ohio. We are constandy receiving large accessions from the slave 
states. Many of our towns and villages have had their colored 
population doubled since 1840, and there is no prospect, at present, 
of their influx being checked. 

The Ohio Black Laws, though designed, originally, to operate 
as a check upon colored immigration, have wholly failed of their 
object, and have only added another to the numerous inefficient 
measures adopted for protection against the evils generated by slavery 
— evils so numerous and complicated, that, often the remedies applied 
only increase the malady. 

And here we must be allowed to remark, that few men can excel 
our northern friends in depicting the horrors of slavery. They have 
studied it chiefly in that point of view. Its degrading and brutifying 
tendencies, generating vices the most debasing and instructive, have 
been portrayed, but too truly, in our hearing, by them, a thousand 
times. Thev» of course, expect us to believe their statements and to 
adopt their views of the odiousness of the system. 

Now, in return, we ask of them that they shall believe us. And 
if one half they have told us be true, in relation to the low state of 
morals — the deep and damning depravity of the victims of slavery — 
then visit us with the plague, or any other physical calamity, rather 
than bring this moral pestilence into contact with our children. We 
speak but the common sentiment of the great mass of our citizens. 



Necessity of Colonization. 27 

These sentiments are not generated by hostile feelings to the colored 
man, any more than the missionary, who wishes to guard well the 
virtues of his children and impart to them a nobility of thought and 
sentiment, should be charged willi hating the degraded Hindoo or 
Hottentot, for whose intellectunl and moral elevation he risks his life, 
because he sends his children back to a Christian country to be edu- 
cated by Christian friends. 

Many of the first settlers of southern Ohio had fled from Virginia, 
Kentucky, and the Carolinas, to rear their families beyond the reach 
of the demoralizing eflects of slavery, and in the enactment of the 
Blark Laws they hoped to erect an impassable barrier between them- 
selves and slavery, or any of its fruits. 

It was not prejudice against color, alone, that dictated the passage 
of the Black Laws of Ohio, and which has kept them so long upon 
our statute book, but it was a dictate of self-preservation. It was a 
determination to confine slavery, with all its fruits, within the limits 
where it existed, and to guard themselves and their children against 
moral contamination by contact with those unfortunate beings whose 
deplorable degradation has been so eloquently, and often, but too truly 
delineated to us. 

A repeal of the Black Laws may be proper;* some modification of 
them, at least, is demanded. But it forms no part of the task assign- 
ed us to express an opinion on the subject. This much, however, 
we can say, that something more is needed than the repeal of these 
laws, before the colored man can have justice done him, or the public 
mind be satisfied with the posture of affairs. 

Nor can we be persuaded that he who rarely ever sees a colored 
person, and who knows nothing of the unfavorable circumstances in 
which a majority of the colored people are placed, where they are 
congregated in large nuuibers, is the proper man to mature measures 
for their relief. He has not the opportunity of forming a practical 
judgment in the case, and his schemes, therefore, will be more apt to 
partake of the vidonary than ihe practicable. 

But we are told that it is our duty to labor for the elevation and im- 
provement of the colored man, and thus prepare him for citizenship. 
In reply, it is only necessary to say, that of the importance of this 
duty the friends of colonization are fully aware, and to discharge it is 
their direct and proposed aim ; but through the unhappy opposition 
of their enemies, in this good work, who have assumed to be exclu- 
sively the friends of the man of color, inducing him to believe that 
we are his " inveterate enemies," we have been, to a great extent, 
excluded from that access to him requisite to the fulfillment of our 
wishes. The colored people, therefore, are not accessible to us, and 
the responsibility of their improvement does not rest upon us, but 
upon diose who have them in charge. And even if they were access- 
ible to us, and we had their confidence, should the emigration from 
the other states continue to be as rapid as heretofore, the execution 

*This lecture was written before their repeal by the present Legislature. 



28 Necessity of Colonization. 

of the task of their education would be a burthen too heavy for Ohio 
to bear. But had we the means, the circumstances of inequality, to 
which reference has already been made, and which neither authorita- 
tive legislation nor the resolves of voluntary associations can remedy, 
forbid tiie hope of giving that form and measure of education requisite 
to qualify any man for the high duties and enjoyments of cilizensliip. 

What then can we do ? No large body of men will long remain 
contented in the bosom of any community or nation, unless in the 
enjoyment of equal social and political riglits. Ignorant, and vicious, 
and lazy men are dangerous in any community; because, not under- 
standing their true interests, and but little inclined to do their duty, 
they are easily turned into an engine of evil to society. Our own 
peace and safety, therefore, demand that we should secure to our 
colored people the blessings of education and the advantages of 
political erjnality. 

But we firmly believe that the first of these objects, the education 
of the free colored people, can only be accomplished under circum- 
stances where the colored man can, by the labor of his own hands, 
provide for his own wants, while he is prosecuting his studies. And 
we as fully believe, that such a combination of circumstances as will 
make the thorough education of our colored people practicable, exists 
only in Liberia. In that climate winter makes no demands, and the 
labor of one man will easily support three. Schools are already or- 
ganized, and every parent is required by law to educate his children. 
In a climate, like ours, however, demanding altnost constant labor 
during summer to provide for winter, and Vi^here schools are accessi- 
ble to but few of the colored people, there is but little to encourage 
the hope that their education can become general. To this conclusion 
intelligent colored men themselves have arrived, and the erection of 
the Colored Manual Labor School, near Columbus, Ohio, where 
200 acres of land have been secured for this object, and paid for, 
chiefly, by ctmtributions from colored men — where education and labor 
can go hand in hand — shows the strength of the hold which this convic- 
tion has upon their minds. But the advantages of such an institution 
cannot be enjoyed by very many. At most,only a few hundreds can be 
accommodated at the same time. Such an institution, therefore, while 
it may be of immense advantage to a few, cannot be relied upon to 
secure general education; and advantageous as it maybe to those 
few, still it will be very partial ; far from reaching that high education 
which gives character, and without which, for the standing and hap- 
piness of the citizen, mere learning is, comparatively, of little value. 

We are also as fully convinced that it will be equally as impractica- 
ble, as their general education, to secure to our free colored people the 
advantages o( political equality any where else than in the Republic 
of Liberia, or in a new one of their own creation upon that continent. 

That the free colored population of our country can be raised to 
that degree of moral and intellectual elevation which they should 
possess, without the enjoyment of all the social and political privi- 
leges which are the natural birthright of man, none will pretend to 



Necessity of Colonization. 29 

claim. These blessings must be secured to them before any material 
advancement can be expected from them. But the opposition to 
granting them equal social and political privileges in Ohio is a "fixed 
fact." Il is believed that no permanent good to the colored man could 
ffrow out of such a measure. The grunting to him the right of 
suffrage has been productive of no good in the states which have 
conceded to him that privilege. Instead of increasing their free 
colored population, since that act of liberality, these states have had a 
regular diminution of it. The right of suffrage to the colored man, 
where tlie whites have a large preponderance of numbers, seems of 
about the same utility as the tin rattle, or little doll, presented to the 
discontented child, to amuse it and keep it from crying. 

It is the setded conviction of nearly all our thinking men, that 
colored men, intellectually, morally, or politically, can no more flourish 
in the midst of the whites, than the tender sprout from the bursting 
acorn can have a rapid advance to maturity beneath the shade of 
the full-grown oak; while the light of the sun, so essential to its 
growth, penetrates not through the thick foliage to impart its invigora- 
ting influences to the humble tenant of the soil ; and where, each 
day, it is liable to be crushed under the feet of those who seek shelter 
from the noon-day heat beneath the boughs of its lordly superior. 

This is no overwrought picture of the condition of the free colored 
people among us. Those stimulants to mental and moral efibrt, 
which beget such a superiority in citizens of free governments, reach 
not to the mind of the colored man, to rouse him to action. And so 
fully convinced of this fact are intelligent colored men themselves 
becoming, that they are beginning to act in concert in reference to 
securing the necessary territory to adopt a separate political organiza- 
tion. This afi'ords [strong grounds for hoping that the day of their 
political redemption is dawning. Heretofore they have been deluded 
with the hope that their elevation would be effected among the 
whites; that hope is now fading from their minds. The adoption of 
measures to secure a distinct political organization is an acknowledg- 
ment of the truth, that a separation from the whites is essential to 
the prosperity of the colored mem, and that colonization at some 
point offers to him his only hope of deliverance. This is an impor- 
tant step in the progress toward a setflement of this vexed question. 

It is true, that, at present, an eye is turned, by many of those who 
are agitating this subject, toward a grant of land from congress out 
of the territory acquired from Mexico. As this is the only territory 
now at the disposal of congress, and as the question of its future 
ownership will be settled during the next year, at furthest, there will 
soon be a decision of that matter. Out of that territory, if any where 
on the continent, must the donation of lands be made for the future 
African state. And upon it, or to Liberia, must the wave of emi- 
gration roll when it recedes from our borders. 

Here, then, we perceive that this question is assuming a new and 
definite form. Jl separate political organization is desired by many 
of the colored men. But they think Liberia is too distant, and too 
3 



30 Necessity of Colonization. 

unhealthy, and therefore wish a grant out of New Mexico or Califor- 
nia. Tliere is, perhaps, not a man in tliis audience, nor in the north, 
who would object to such a grant for such a purpose, so far as the 
grant of United States' property is concerned. Your speaker, for his 
part, is willing to raise up both hands and shout at the topmost pitch 
of his voice, in the ears of congress, to secure it, if he thought it could 
be obtained, and that it would, to the occupant, be a peaceful pos- 
session, anil safe for the country. But he believes it is idle, it is 
wicked, longer to keep the poor colored man pursuing phantoms 
which always must elude his grasp. We say, frankly, tliat we have 
no hope that such a grant of territory can be had from congress. 
And even if it could, dare we hope that it would prove a peaceful 
home, such as prudent Christian men would wish to leave as a legacy 
to their children ? Its proximity to the slave states, it is feared, might 
lead to continual collisions. 

It is useless, however, to discuss this question, because, whenever 
our intelligent colored men are put in possession of the facts in relation 
to Liberia, they must greatly prefer it to any point on this continent. 

We are aware that some of the colored orators declaim loudly 
against any attempts to persuade the free colored people to emigrate 
to Africa, while three millions of their brethren remain behind in 
slavery. Now, it is very natural that a benevolent heart sliould dic- 
tate such feelings, and we must respect their motives. But we would 
remind all such objectors to emigration to Liberia, that while three 
millions of their brethren are enchained here, there are, according to 
the best authorities, one hundred and ten millii)ns in Africa, eighty 
millions of whom are of their own caste, indudino', no doubt, their 
own blood relations, who are mostly crushed under a system of 
oppression and of cruelty, and reduced to a condition of moral degra- 
dation, compared with which, American slavery, with all its woes, 
is bliss itself. These eighty millions of men are nearly all destitute 
of the gospel of Christ, and, consequently, imthout the elements of 
an intellectual and moral renovation. The sale of their brethren 
into slavery, excepting in a few sunny spots, illuminated by Chrislian 
colonies, still continues with all its attendant horrors. The slave 
trade, baffling the utmost exertions for its suppression, is still prose- 
cuted with unabated vigor. ' Its wretched victims are still found 
wedged together in the foul and close recesses of the slave ships, with 
scarcely space enough to each for the heart to swell in the agony of 
its despair.' All hope that it can be suppressed by operations on the 
ocean are at an end. It must be assailed where it originated, — on the 
land. The instrumentality to be employed must be that which the 
result of long experience dictates, — the gospel. The agents to per- 
form this great work are as clearly designated — colored Chriitinn 
colonists. This combined agency of the gospel and colonization has 
already begun to redress the wrongs of Africa. " It is fast restoring 
a continent shrouded in the darkness of accumulated centuries, to the 
lights of civilization and Christianity. It is opening up to that 
degraded and impoverished people, new sources of prosperity and 



Practicability of Colonization. 31 

new fields of enterprise in the boundless resources of that great con- 
tinent.' The agencies so successfully begun by the colonization 
scheme, need only to be sufficiently augmented to secure the regen- 
eration of Africa. 

Then, with such ample provision made for the free colored man, 
and with such a field of future greatness and of glory opening up 
before him, why should he not be encouraged, and why not aided, 
to enter upon his rich inheritance, instead of begging for a home on 
this continent, where, at best, his future prospects would be overcast 
with gloom. Does the man of color wish to speak to the southern 
slave-holder in tones that can be heard and will be respected? instead 
of relying upon (he feeble cry of three and a half millions in this 
country, Africa has eighty millions of voices which he may control, 
and whose united shout for freedom to the slave, would shake the 
fetters from his limbs and give him liberty 

IV. The practicability of colonizing the free people of color. 

The best mode of discussing the practicability of any scheme, is, 
first to ascertain what is to be accomplished. The following list of 
the twenty-four principal states, and the number of free colored peo- 
ple in each, in 1840, presents the amount of persons to be provided 
for, and the manner of their distribution throughout the union. 



Maine, 


1,355 


Pennsylvania, 


47,854 


Tennessee, 


5,524 


N. Hampshire, 
MassachusetU, 


537 


Ohio, 


17,342 


N. CaroUna, 


22,732 


8,669 


hidiana. 


7,165 


S. Carolina, 


8,276 


Rhode Island, 


3,238 


Illinois, 


3,598 


Georgia, 


2,753 


Connecticut, 


8,105 


Delaware, 


16,919 


Mississippi, 


1,:^66 


Vermont, 


730 


Maryland, 


62,020 


Missouri, 


1,574 


New York, 


50,027 


Virginia, 


49,842 


Alabama, 


2,039 


New Jersey, 


21,044 


Kentucky, 


7,317 


Louisiana, 


26,502 



It will be seen, under our first head, that the number of human 
beings torn from Africa, on American account alone, in 1847, all of 
whom, perhaps, were for the Brazilian market, amounted to 84,356. 
Now, we would ask whether this fact does not furnish a useful lesson 
upon the subject of the practicability of colonization from the 
United States to Africa. 

The total annual increase of the whole colored population of the 
United States, slave and free, from 1830 to 1840, was 54,356, or, 
30,000 less than the exports of slaves, in 1847, from Africa for the 
American market. 

The whole number of the free colored population of the United 
States, in 1840, was 386,235, or only a little over four and a half 
times greater than one year's importation from Africa. 

The total increase of the free colored population of the United 
States, from 1830 to 1840, was 6,664, annually, making the number 
torn from Africa, in one year, more than twelve and a half times as 
great as the whole annual increase of the free colored population of 
the United States. 

The toted free colored population of Ohio, is, at present, about 



33 Practicability of Colonizalion, 

30,000, and that of Indiana and Illinois 20,000. The other states will 
have but a small advance on their free colored population of 1840. 
The exports of slaves from Africa, in one year, are, therefore, nearly 
three times greater than the whole number of free colored people at 
present in Ohio ; more than four times that of Indiana and Illinois ; 
nearly four times that of the six New England stales in 1840; nearly 
double that of Pennsylvania ; thirteen thousand more than that of 
New York and New Jersey; four thousand more than Delaware 
and Maryland ; nearly double that of Virginia ; nearly seventeen 
thousand more than double that of North Carolina, South Carolina, 
and Georgia ; nearly six times that of Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
Alabama ; and nearly four times that of Louisiana, 

If, therefore, a set of desperadoes, not so numerous but that they 
have eluded detection and capture, can, in one year, accomplish all 
that is here enumerated, what could not the united efforts of the 
legislatures of the several states accomplish, without oppressive taxa- 
tion, were they simultaneously to commence the work of colonizing 
the free colored people ? 

Suppose each of the states in the foregoing list, were, as a prepar- 
atory measure, to appropriate to the colonization society, one dollar 
for each colored person in their bounds, the sum of $375,528 would 
be raised, being about one half the whole sum expended by the 
society since its origin. Now, there is scarcely one of the states 
named, which could not give an annual appropriation of the sum 
stated, without the tax being felt by its people. 

The sum required by this scheme, to be expended by Ohio, would 
be only one cent and a ha/ffor each of the two millions of her present 
population. To pay the expenses of the transportation of her whole 
30,000 free colored people, at $50 each, — the sum for which the 
colonization society agrees to take out emigrants — would cost but 
seventy-Jive cents for each person. But suppose Ohio could prevent 
all further immigration into the state, and would agree to send out the 
natural increase only, which, at two per cent, on 30,000, would be 
600, the tax would be but one cent and a half to each citizen of the 
State. 

Then, who will say that it will not he practicable to raise this sum 
in Ohio, on condition that six hundred persons of color, annually, 
would volunteer to emigrate ? And which of the other states would 
decline entering into a measure of such easy accomplishment ? We 
trust not one. 

As it may amuse the curious, and furnish a rule to determine the 
quota of each state for p^iying the cost of emigration of its natural 
increase, we would here state, that one dollar per head, for the whole 
free colored population, is exactly fifty dollars a head for the natural 
increase, — the ratio of increase being two per cent. One dollar a 
head, for each free colored person in a state, will, therefore, transfer 
its natural increase to Africa, and put them in possession of a home- 
stead upon which to make a living. 

I shall not, here, refer to the probabilities of the free colored people 



Influence of Colonization on Missionary Efforts. 33 

being willing to accept the offered boon of a home in Liberia, but 
leave it to another branch of our subject. 

V. The influence of Colonization upon the native Africans, and 
upon Missionary efforts in Africa. 

On these points we shall study great brevity. The influence of 
colonization upon the native Africans has been, in all respects, bene- 
ficial. It is only necessary to state, that in purchasing the lands 
from the native kings and head men, and thus securing the riglit of 
sovereignty over the soil, the inhabitants are at once secured in the 
prolection'of the laws of the Liberian government, and in the enjoy- 
ment of its advantages. Those held in slavery, and they constitute 
about eight-tenths of the population, are at once emancipated. The 
same care is taken in promoting their education that is observed in 
the instruction of emigrants from the United States. When suffi- 
ciently advanced in intelligence, they are admitted to the rights of 
citizenship. In this way, 75,000 of the natives have been emanci- 
pated from slavery, and secured in all the rights of freemen. By 
treaties with surrounding tribes, 200,000 more are bound not to 
engage in the slave trade, nor to go to war amongst themselves. 
These treaties secure to the respective tribes embraced, the protection 
of the Republic against all other hostile tribes, A breach of the 
conditions of these treaties, on the part of any tribe, forfeits the pro- 
tection of the colony. Thus, for ten years past, the colony has 
preserved peace amongst many petty tribes whose trade formerly 
was war. Colonization, therefore, in many respects, has done great 
good to Africa. And, in addition to all this, we may add, that such 
is the favorable impression which our colonies are beginning to send 
abroad among the native tribes, that, recently, six kings have com- 
bined and annexed their territories, including one hundred miles of 
coast, to the Maryland colony. This statement we have met with, 
as coming from Jiev. Mr. Finney, for a time the governor of Liberia. 
The motive prompting these kings to annex, is, that they may enjoy 
the protection of the colony. 

The History of Missionary efforts in Western Africa, fully sus- 
tains the truthfulness of the pictures which have been drawn of the 
fatality of the climate to the white man, and of the dreadful moral 
darkness which overspreads the land.* 

/-Catholic missionaries labored for two hundred and forty-one years, 
4)Ut every vestige of their influence has been gone for many genera- 
tions. The Moravians, beginning in 1736, toiled for thirty-four 
years, making five attempts, at a cost of eleven lives, and effected 
nothing. An English attempt, at Bulama Island, in 1792, partly 
missi(mary in its cliaracter, was abandoned in two years, with a loss 
of one hundred lives. A mission sent to the Foulahs, from England, 
in 1795, returned without commencing its labors. The London, 

• We have drawn our facts mostly from Mr. Tracy's history of Colonization and 
Missions. 



34 Influence of Colonization on Missionary Efforts. 

Edinburgh and Glasgow society, commenced three stations in 1797, 
which were extinct in three years, and five of the six missionaries 
dead. The Church missionary society sent out its first missionaries 
in 1804, but it was four years before tliey coukl find a place out of 
the colony of Sierra Leone, where they could commence their 
labors. They estabHshed and attempted to maintain ten stations. 
But the hostility of the natives, who preferred the slave traders to 
them, drove the missionaries from nine of them, and forced them to 
take refuge in Sierra Leone, the only place where they could labor 
with safety and with hope. The tenth station at Goree, was also 
abandoned and given up to the French. 

" Here, then, witiiout counting Sierra Leone and Goree, are eigh- 
teen Protestant missionary attempts, before the settlement of Liberia, 
all of which failed from the influence of climate, and the hostility of 
the natives, generated by the opposition of the slave traders." And, 
since the setdement of Liberia, until 1845, when these investiga- 
tions were completed, all attempts to sustain missions beyond the 
influence of the Colony have also failed. 

" But while we mourn over these failures in attempts to do good to 
Africa, it is a source of the most profound gratitude to have the facts 
placed authentically before- the world, that every attempt at coloniz- 
ing Africa with colored persons, and every missionary effort con- 
nected with the Colonies, either of England or America, have been 
successful." 

These facts prove, conclusively, that while other lands may be 
approached and blessed by other methods, the only hope for Africa 
appears to be in Colonization by persons of color. This is the only 
star of promise which kindles its light on her dark horizon. It is 
the only apparent means of her salvation. 

"After the presentation of such an array of facts, extending over a 
period of four centuries, may we not claim that the question is 
decided — that the facts of the case preclude all possibility of reason- 
able doubt — that the combined action of Colonization and missions 
is proved to be an effectual means, and is the only known means, 
of converting and civilizing Africa.'''' 

And who that believes this, will not give heart and hand to the 
work, and labor, through good report and through ill, for the con- 
centration of all the talent and piety, belonging to the colored people, 
upon that coast? Who that truly desires the redemption of the 
African race from their degradation of accumulated centuries, but 
would rejoice to see hundreds and thousands, and tens of thousands, 
of the virtuous and intelligent of our colored population, like so many 
angels of mercy, flocking to Africa, and employed in that labor of 
love which must be performed before Ethiopia can stretch out her 
hands to God ? 

After what has been said, in relation to the low state of morals 
amongst the slaves, and the new accessions of colored emigrants 
wiilch we are likely to receive from the slave states, it is proper, in 
this place, that we should present some explanation. Our observa- 



Influence of Colonization on Missionary Efforts. 35 

tions, it will be noticed, were based upon the representations made 
by our northern friends on the degrading and brutifying tendencies 
of slavery, and were oflered, partly, as a retort upon them for wish- 
ing to overstock us with such a population as they must necessarily 
believe will emanate from ihe midst of slavery, while they them- 
selves scarcely touch the burthen with the tip of the finger. Our 
views, however, differ materially from theirs, in relation to the 
moral condition of the slaves. 

While we believe that slavery, like despotism in any other form, 
in itself considered, contains no one principle which tends to elevate 
and improve the intellect and the heart, yet we know that there are 
accidents connected with it, in this country, as there have been with 
despotism in Europe, whicli afford to its victims the means of 
improvement. We believe that the Providence of God never places 
men, towards whom he has designs of mercy, in circumstances 
where the gospel of Christ is not adapted to their condition. That 
gospel, we know, has spoken peace to thousands of poor slaves, 
and whispered to their desponding hearts the hope of freedom in 
heaven. It is undeniable, that an immense degree of intellectual and 
moral advancement, beyond that of the nativeof Africa, has been made 
by t!ie slaves of the United States, under all the disadvantages to 
which they have been subjected. It is true, that thousands of 
masters are laboring with much success for the moral and religious 
improvement of their slaves. It is well known, that the moral 
character and religious principle of many a slave will compare with 
and excel that of many of the whites, even in the north. It is 
certain, that the volimtary emancipations which occur, are by this 
class of masters and from this class of slaves. And it is a fact, that 
the greater number of the newly emancipated slaves, who come to 
the free states, have more or less acquaintance with their social, 
moral, and religions duties, and are more or less disposed to make 
further efforts for their own advancement. And knowing and be- 
lieving all tliis, we are prepared to take them by the hand and to 
encourage them to the full extent of the numbers that we are able to 
receive. We are also prepared to cooperate with, and do aid them, 
in their efforts at education. In the village in which your speaker 
resides, a Presbytery of the church with which he is connected, 
pays, regularly, from a donation by a deceased member, the half of 
the salary of a teacher for a colored school. From observation 
there, and elsewliere, we have learned that tliough but a small portion 
of the parents have a right appreciation of the importance of educa- 
tion and of the arduousness of the task of acquiring knowledge, yet,' 
upon the whole, they manifest fully as much interest in the work 
as the same number of whites would do, who possess no higher a 
standard of intellectual attainment. 

Were it in our power, therefore, to increase the facilities for their 
education a thousand fold, we would do it at once. Because we 
feel it to be an imperative duty resting on the white men of 
the United States, allowing of no halfway measures or efforts, 



36- Relations of England to Liberia. 

to labor for the redemption of Africa, and to repair the wrongs 
that have been done her. 

But to execute this task, we must call to our aid men of African 
blood. We should have one teacher or missionary for every 1000 
inhabitants. To supply the whole 80,000,000 of people of color in 
Africa, with teachers and missionaries, will, therefore, require an 
educated army of 80,000 colored men, who must be supplied from 
the United States and from Liberia. While, then, we struggle to 
elevate and improve the colored man in the United States, we point 
him to Africa as the field of usefulness in which we wish to see 
him labor. 

VI. The certainty of success of the Colonization scheme, and 
of the perpetuity of the Republic of Liberia. 

In the facts which have been already presented, in the course of 
our investigations, many reasons will be found to encourage our 
hopes that the colonization scheme must continue to prosper, and 
that the experiment of an African Republic must succeed. We shall 
now proceed to offer additional facts and considerations of much more 
weight and importance on this point, than any which we have, yet, 
produced. The first and more important is based upon tlie com- 
mercial advantages, in Africa, which Liberia is beginning to unfold 
to civilized nations. But as time will not allow us to enter upon an 
extended investigation of the peculiar advantnges which each nation 
will derive from the civilization of Africa, we shall confine ourselves 
to those of England, because she is more vitally interested in the 
success of Liberia than all the others. When the facts in her case 
are known, it will be easy to make the application to other nations. 
It will be seen, in the course of these investigations, that it is of the 
utmost importance to England to aid the Republic of Liberia in 
extending its influence with all possible rapidity over the continent 
of Africa. The reasons upon which we base this opinion are briefly 
as follows : 

Next to the necessity under which the government of Great 
Britain is laid to create new markets for her manufactures, comes 
the vast importance which she attaches to having the control of 
tropical possessions and tropical productions. Their importance to 
her heretofore, in contributing to give to her the ascendency which she 
acquired amongst nations, was thus strongly staled by McQueen, in 
1844, when this iiighly intelligent Englishman was urging upon his 
government the great necessity which existed for securing to itself 
'the control of the labor and the products of tropical Africa. 

" During the fearful struggle of a quarter of a century, for her 
existence as a nation, against the power and resources of Europe, 
directed by the most intelligent but remorseless military ambition 
against her, the command of the froductions of the torrid zone, and 
the advantageous commerce which that afibrded, gave to Great 
Britain the power and the resources which enabled her to meet, to 
combat, and to overcome, her numerous and reckless enemies in 



Relations of England to Liberia. 37 

every battle-field, whether by sea or by land, throughout the world. 
In her the world saw realized the fabled giant of antiquity. With 
her hundred hands she grasped her foes in every region under 
heaven, and crushed them with resisdess energy." 

If the possession and control of tropical products gave to Eng- 
land such immense resources, and secured to her such superiority 
and such power, then, to be deprived of these resources would of 
course exert a corresponding opposite eflect, and she would not 
yield them to another but in a death-struggle for their maintainance. 
Now, we expect to prove that this struggle has commenced and 
progressed to a point of the utmost interest, both to England and to 
the cause of humanity; and that the present moment finds Great 
Britain in a position so disadvantageous, arising from the progress of 
other nations in tropical cultivation, that one principal means of her 
extrication is in the success of Liberia. 

Mr. McQueen, in proceeding further with his investigations, 
reveals to us the true position of England by the following slarUing 
announcement: 

"The increased cultivation and prosperity of foreign tropical pos- 
sessions is become so great, and is advancing so rapidly the power 
and resources of other nations, that these are embarrassing this 
country (England,) in all her commercial relations, in her pecuniary 
resources, and in all her political relations and negotiations." 

The peculiar force of these remarks, and the cause for alarm 
which existed, will be belter understood by an examination of the 
figures in the following table. They contrast the condition of Great 
Britain as compared with only a few other countries, in the produc- 
tion of three articles; alone, of tropical produce. 



SUGAR- 


-1842. 




British possessions. 


Foreign countries. 


West Indies, cwts. 2,.508.552 


Cuba, 


cwts. 5,800,000 


East Indies, " 940,452 


Brazil, 


" 2,400,000 


Mauritius, (1841) » 544,707 


Java, 


" 1,105,757 


Total 3,993,771 


Louisiana, 


" 1,400,000 
Total 10,705,757 


Coffee 


—1842. 




West Indies, lbs. 9,186,555 


Java, 


lbs. 134,842,715 


East Indies, " 18,206,448 


Brazils, 


" 135,000,800 


Total 27,393,003 


Cuba, 


33,589,325 




Venezuela, 


" 34,000,000 
Total 337,432,840 


Cotton 


— 1840. 




West Indies, lbs. 427,529 


United States, lbs. 790,479,275 


East Indies, " 77,015,917 


Java, 


" 165,504,800 


To China, from do. " 60,000,000 


Brazil, 


" 25,222,828 


Total 137,443,446 




Total 981,206,903 



38 Relations of England to Liberia. 

But that this exhibit may convey its full force to the mind, it 
must be observed, that nearly three-fourths of this slave-grown pro- 
duce, has been created, says McQueen, within thirty years prece- 
ding the date of his writing. (1844.) 

It will be noticed, also, that the whole of these products, with the 
exception of those of Java and Venezuela, are the produce of slave 
labor; and it must be remembered, also, that the perpetuation and 
increase of this labor is, in a great degree, except in Louisiana, 
depending upon the slave trade for its continuance. It is easy, 
then, to perceive, from the foregoing facts, that the slave trade has 
been very sensibly and very seriously afl'ecting die iuterests of the 
British government — that it has been an engine in the hands of other 
nations, by which they have thrown England into the back ground 
in the production of those articles of which she formerly had the 
monopoly, and which had given to her such power — and that Great 
Britain must either crush the slave trade, or it will continue to 
paralyze her. 

Here is the true secret of her movements in referencfe to the slave 
trade and slavery. Public sentiment, under the control of Chris- 
tian principle, compelled her in 1808, to a first step in this great 
work of philanthropy ; and this step, once taken, there could be no 
retreat. But this first step, the abolition of the slave trade in her 
colonies, gave to Spain and Portugal all the advantages of that 
traffic, and the cheaper and more abundant labor, thus secured, gave 
a powerful stimulus to the production of tropical commodities in 
their colonies of Cuba and Brazil, and soon enabled them to rival, 
and gready surpass England, in the amount of her exports of these 
articles. 

But the investigations which had led to the knowledge of the 
enormities of the slave trade, necessarily exhibited the evils of 
slavery itself. Public opinion decreed the annihilation of both, and 
the Britisli government had no other alternative but to comply. The 
means to which she resorted for the suppression of the slave trade, 
and their failure hitherto, have been already noticed. The measures 
adopted for the emancipation of her West India slaves, have resulted 
still nrore unfavorably to her interests than those fur the extinction 
of the slave tr-ade. 

It was considered absolutely necessary to the prosperity of Eng- 
land, that she should regain the advantageous position which she 
had occupied in being the chief producer of tropical commodities. 
But to effect this, it was necessary that she shoidd be able to double 
the exports from her own Islands, and greatly diminish those of her 
rivals. This could be accomplished, only, by an increase of 
laborers from abi'oad, or by stimulating those on the Islands to 
double activity in their work. An increase of laborers from abroad 
could oidy be secured by a resort to the slave trade, which was 
impossible ; or to voluntary emigration from other countries to the 
Islands, which was improbable. The only remaining alternative 
was to render the labor already in the Islands more productive. 



Eelalions of England to Liberia. 



39 



This could not be done by the ivhip, as it had already expended its 
force, and could not afford the relief demanded. This position of 
affairs made the government willing to listen to the appeals of the 
friends of West India emancipation. They had long argued that 
free labor was cheaper than slave labor — that one freeman, under 
the stimulus of wages^ would do fivice the work of a slave com- 
pelled to industry by the ivhip — that the government, by immediate 
emancipation, could demonstrate the truth of this proposition, and 
thus furnish a powerful argument against slavery — that the world 
should be convinced tliat the employment of slave labor is a great 
economic error — and that this truth, once believed, the abolition of 
slavery would every where take place, and the demand for slaves 
being tlius destroyed, the slave trade must cease. Parliament, yield- 
ing to these arguments, passed her West India Emancipation act, 
1833, with certain restrictions, by which the liberated slaves were to 
be held by their old masters as apprentices, partly until Aug. 1, 
1838, and partly until Aug. 1, 1840. This apprenticeship system, 
however, being productive of greater cruelties than even slavery, the 
Legislative councils of the Islands, coerced by public sentiment in 
England, M-ere forced to precipitate the final emancipation of the 
slaves, and on Aug. 1, 1838, they were declared free. 'I'his act at 
once brought on the crisis in the experiment. The results are 
stated in the following official table, taken from the Westminster 
Eeview, 1844. 



ougar 
Exported from 



St. Vincent, 

Trinidad, 

Jamaica, 

Total W. Indies, 



Average ol 
1831-2-3. 
3 yrs. of Slavery. 
'23,400X100 lbs. 
18,923 tons. 
86,080 hhd. 
3,841,153 cwt. 



Average of 

l8:<.5-(i-7. 

3 yrs. of Apprcnt'ship. 

22,.=>0Ti7000 lbs. 

18,25.5 tons. 

62,960 iihd. 

3,477,592 cwt. 



Average of 

1839-10-41. 

3 yrs. of Freedom. 



14,100 000 lbs. 

14,828 tons. 

.34,415 hhd. 

2,396,784cvvt. 



This immense and unexpected reduction of West India products 
under the system of freedom, was cause of great alarm. The 
experiment which was to prove the superiority of free labor over 
that of slave labor had failed. The hope of dmihling' the exports by 
that means was blasted. $500,000,000* of British capital, invested 
in the Islands, says McQueen, w;is on the brink of destruction for 
want of laborers to make it available. The English government 
found her commerce greatly lessened, and her home supply of tro- 
pical products falling below the actual wants of her own people. 
This diminution rendered her unable to furnish any surplus for the 
markets of those of her colonies and other countries which she 
formerly supplied. These results at once extended the market for 
slave grown products, and gave a new impid.-^e lo the slave trade. 

The government and its advisers now found themselves in the 
mortifying position of having blundered miserably in their emancipa- 
tion scheme, and of having landed themselves in a dilemma of singu- 

* We reckon the pound sterling, here and elsewhere, for convenience, at five 
dollars. 



40 Relations of England to Liberia. 

lar perplexity. Had England induced, or compelled Portugal, Spain, 
and Brazil, — the latter then no longer a colony but an independent 
nation, — to fulfill the conditions of the treaty declaring the slave trade 
piracy, and also to abolish slavery, she might have succeeded in her 
object. But she did not await the accomplishment of this work 
before she declared the freedom of her own slaves. Tins act 
resulted so favorably to the interests of those countries employing 
slave labor, by enlarging the markets for slave grown products, that 
the difficulty of inducing them to cease from it, was increased a 
hundred fold. Nor did the expedients to which she resorted prove 
successful in extricating her from the difficulties in which she was 
involved. A duty of near 39 shillings, afterwards raised to 41 
shillings the cwt., or 4| pence the pound, levied on slave grown 
sugar — designed to prohibit its importation into England and secure 
the monopoly to the West India planter, thereby enabling him to 
pay higher wages for labor — while it f^iiled to stimulate the activities 
of the freedmen sufficiently to increase the exports to their former 
amount — resulted only in taxing the English people, by the increase 
of prices consequent upon a diminution of the supply, in a single 
year, says Porter in his Progress of Nations, to the enormous amount 
of $25,000,000 more than the inhabitants of other countries paid for 
the same quantity of sugar. This enormous tax accrued during 
1840, from the protective duty, but was greaUy above that of any 
other year during its continuance. The whole amount of the bounty 
to the planter, thus drawn from the pockets of the English people 
and placed in those of the West India negro laborers in exces.^ive 
high wages, in the course of six or seven years, says McQueen, 
1844, amounted to $50,000,000. 

The crisis had become so imminent, that energetic measures were 
immediately adopted to guard against the impending danger. Eng- 
land must either regain her advantages in tropical countries and 
tropical products, or she must be shorn of a part of her power and 
greatness. This truth was so fully impressed upon the minds of 
her intelligent statesmen, that one of the best informed on this sub- 
ject, (McQueen,) declared, that 

" If the foreign slave trade be not extinguished, and the cultiva- 
tion of the tropical territories of other powers opposed and checked 
by British tropiccd cidlivation, then the interests and the power of 
such states will rise into a preponderance over those of Great 
Britain ; and the power and the influence of the latter will cease to 
be felt, feared and respected, amongst the civilized and powerful 
nations of the world." 

To relieve the English people from the onerous tax of the sugar 
duties, and at the same time, in obedience to the dictates of public 
opinion, to continue the exclusion of slave grown products from the 
English markets, sugar, the product of free labor, it was decided, 
should he ndmitted at a duty of 10 shillings the cwt. But it was 
soon discerned, that this policy would only create a circuitous 
commerce, by which the slave grown sugar of Cuba and Brazil 



Relations of England to Liberia. 41 

would be taken by Holland and Spain, for their own consumption, 
and that of Java and Manilla sent to England ; thus creating a more 
extensive demand for slave grown products and consequently for 
slave labor, and giving to the alave trade an additional impulse in 
an increased demand for slaves. 

The necessity for this continuous supply of slave laborers from 
Africa, for the planters of Cuba and Brazil, will be better understood, 
when the nature of West India and Brazilian slavery is made 
known. When England prohibited the slave trade in 1806, the 
number of slaves in her colonies was 800,000. In twenty-three 
years afterwards, or near the time she emancipated them, they 
numbered but 700,000. The decrease in this period was, therefore, 
100,000; (Memoirs of Buxton). 

The United States, in 1800, had a slave population of 893,000. 
In 1830 she numbered 2,009,000, being an increase of 1,116,000. 
Thus, in thirty years, the United States had an increase of one 
million one hundred and sixteen thousand on a population of 
893,000; while the West Indies, under the English system of 
slavery, with a slave population nearly equal to that of the United 
States, in a period only six years less, suffered an actual decrease 
of one hundred thousand. 

The destruction of human life in the slavery of Cuba and Brazil 
will, doubdess, be equal to what it was formerly in the West Indies, 
inasmuch as the same causes prevail — the great disparity of the 
sexes amongst those brought by slave traders, from Africa, for the 
planters. In the slave population of Cuba this disproportion, says 
McQueen, is 150,000 females to 275,000 males. It is estimated, 
that to keep up the slave populaUon of Cuba and Brazil, will require, 
yearly, 130,000 people from Africa. It is, then, at once apparent, 
that Cuba and Brazil are dependent, as we have said, upon the 
slave trade for keeping up the supply of their laborers; and, that, 
if this annual importation of slaves should be stopped, then, their 
foreign exports would be proportionally lessened and their growing 
prosperity checked. 

Under these circumstances, there could be no doubt, that if Eng- 
land could suppress the slave trade, she would at once cut off the 
supply of laborers furnished by that traffic to Cuba and Brazil, and 
" check " their ability to rival her as producers of tropical com- 
modilies; and, further, if she could increase the number of laborers 
in the West Indies suJjUciently , she could restore those Islands to 
their former productiveness, and recover her former advantages. 
She, therefore, renewed her efforts for the suppression of the slave 
trade, with gready increased activity. She also commenced the 
transfer oi free laborers from the East Indies and from Africa to the 
West Indies. Every slave trading vessel captured, was made to 
yield up its burden of human beings to the West India planters, 
instead of to those of Cuba and Brazil ; thus securing to the 
former all the advantages of laborers which had been designed for 
the latter. This arrangement was adopted in 1842, and the only 



42 Relations of England to Liberia, 

exception to it was in relation to Spanish slavers, which were to be 
given up, with their cargoes of slaves, to the authorities of Cuba. 
A premium was paid to her naval officers and seamen for all the 
slaves thus captured and transported to her West India Colonies. 
The expenditure for tliis object, in 1844, says McQueen, had 
amounted to $4,700,000. 

In this movement an intelligent colored man, Mr. William 
Brown, of Oxford, Ohio, has remarked, that England seems to have 
copied the example of the eagle, which disdains to soil his own 
plumage by a plunge in the water, but, as he must have the fish or 
die, makes no scruple of robbing the more daring fish-hawk of its 
prey and appropriating the captive fish to his own use, instead of 
restoring it to its native element. 

All these eflorts, however, failed in relieving England from her 
difficulties. The slave trade continued to increase, and the slave 
grown productions to multiply. The number oi free laborers trans- 
ported as emigrants from Africa and the East Indies, or captured 
from the slave traders, and landed in the Islands, Avere so few, 
comparatively, as to make no sensible difference in the amount of 
West India productions, and the scheme, though still continued, has 
failed of its main object — (he increase of British West India pro- 
ductions. Some other means of replacing England in her former 
position, must, therefore, be devised. 

But let us look a moment, before we proceed, at the West Indies, 
and learn more fully, the extent and nature of the influences which 
have gone forth upon the world as the result of West India Eman- 
cipation and British policy and philanthropy. 

It seems to have been a great error of judgment in the British 
philanthropists, who urged West India Emancipation vpon the 
ground that free labor would be more productive than slave labor, 
— that a freeman, under the stimulus of wages, would do twice the 
labor of a slave toiling beneath the lash: because this proposition is 
true only in reference to men of intelligence and forethought, but is 
untrue when applied to an ignorant and degraded class of men. 
The ox under the yoke, or the mule in the harness, when spurred 
on by the goad or the whip, will do more labor than when turned 
out to shift for themselves. So it will be with any barbarous people, 
or with the mass of such a slave population as the West Indies then 
included ; where but little more care had been taken of the greater 
portion of them than if they had been mere brute beasts, and not moral 
agents. If any higher estimate had been put upon them, than as mere 
machines to be us'ed in the production of tropical commodities, then 
it had been impossible for their numbers to have been reduced one 
hundred thousand in so short a period as before stated. 

The first impulse of the heart of the more intelligent slaves, when 
they awoke to a consciousness of freedom, would prompt them to 
withdraw their wives, daughters, and younger children, from the 
sugar plantations, that the mothers might attend to their household 
dvUies, and the children be sent to school. This would deprive the 



Relations of England to Liberia. 43 

planters vof much of the labor upon which they had depended. The 
men, too, woukl many of them prefer mechanical pursuits, or confine 
themselves to the cultivation of small portions of land, and decline 
laboring- for their old masters, in whose presence they must still 
have felt a sense of inferiority. Many, from sheer indolence and 
recklessness of consequences, would only labor when necessity com- 
pelled tliem to seek a supply of their wants. The marriages taking 
place would withdraw still more of the laborers from the fields, and 
reduce the amount of the products of the Islands. 

While, therefore, the ease, comfort, and welfare, of the colored 
man was secured, the interests of the planters were almost ruined by 
emancipation, and the influence and power of England put in 
jeopardy. Litde did the 700,000 West India freedmen, who 
refused to labor regularly for the planters, think, when following 
their own inclinations, or lounging at their ease under the shade trees 
of these sunny Islands, that their want of industry, their reluctance 
to go back to the sugar mills, for the wages offered, was crippling 
the power of one of the greatest empires on earth, and robbing Africa 
of 400,000 of her children, annually, to supply to the world, from 
Cuba and Brazil, those very commodities which they were refusing 
to produce. Yet such was the fact, and such the mysterious links 
connecting man with his fellow, that the want of ambition in the 
West India freedman to earn more than a subsistence, depriving the 
planters of the necessaiy free labor to keep up the usual amount of 
exports, created a corresponding demand for slave grown products, 
and robbed Africa, in each two years thereafter, of a number of men 
more than eqnal to the whole of the slaves emancipated in the 
British Islands. 

There would seem, then, to have been but little gain to the cause 
of humanity by AVest India Emancipation. This view of its results^ 
however, would be very erroneous. On the contrary, there is 
exliibited here, in this result, another mysterious link in the chain of 
events connected with [he redemption of Africa. The failure of the 
West India experiment, has been a failure, only, of England''s ex- 
periment adopted to restore herself to her former position and her 
former advantages, and will not retard the onward progress of the 
cause of humanity. It has, on the contrary, no doubt greatly tended 
to precipitate upon the world the solution of a problem of the first 
importance in the great work of its recovery from barbarism. It 
must now be admitted that mere personal liberty, even connected 
with the stimulus of high ivages, is insufficient to secure the indus- 
try of an ignorant population. It is Intelligence, alone, that can be 
acted upon by such motives. Intelligence must precede voluntary 
Industry. This proposition, we claim, has been fairly proved in 
the West India experiment. And, hereafter, that man or nation, 
may find it difiicult to command respect or succeed in being esteemed 
wise, who will not, along with exertions to extend personal freedom 
to men, intimately blend with their efforts adequate means for 
intellectual and moral improvement. The AVest India colored 



44 Relations of England to Liberia. 

population, now released from the restraints of slavery, and accessible 
to the missionaries and teachers, sent to them from English Chris- 
tians, are rising in intelligence and respectability ; and, thus. West 
India emancipation has been productive of infinite advantage to ihem, 
though English capitalists may have been ruined by the act. But 
we will go farther, and give it as our deliberate opinion, that as soon 
as intelligence and morality, growing out of the religious training 
now enjoyed, shall sufficiently prevail, the amount of products raised 
in the West Indies will greatly exceed that yielded under the system 
of slavery. Liberty and Religion can make its inhabitants as pros- 
perous and happy as those of any other spot on earth. We do not 
say, however, that tliis can take place while they sustain the posi- 
tion of vassals of the British crown, and their importance in the scale 
of being continues to be estimated according to the extent to which 
they can add to its prosperity and its glory. 

Had the West India colored men, under the stimulus of freedom 
and high wages, each performed twice the labor of a slave, as they, 
no doubt, might liave done, and as was confidently anticipated by the 
enthusiastic friends of emancipation, more than twice the products 
of former years would have been exported from the Islands, and 
England, in that event, restored to her former position, and looking 
only to self aggrandizement, would have remained content, and con- 
tinued to employ men as mere machines, as she heretofore had done, 
nor cared for their intellectual and moral elevation. But the failure 
of England in the West Indies, forced her to renewed efforts for the 
acquisition of additional tropical possessions, where, with better 
prospects of success, she could bring free labor into competition 
with slave labor. 

Before tracing the movements of Great Britain, however, in her 
prosecution of this enterprise, let us again look a moment at her 
position. "Instead of supplying her ovvn wants with tropical pro- 
ductions, and next nearly all Europe, as she formerly did, she had 
scarcely enough, says McQueen, 1844, of some of the most impor- 
tant articles, for her own consumption, while her colonies were 
mostly supplied with foreign slave produce." " In the mean time 
tropical productions had been increased from $75,000,000 to $300,- 
000,000 annually. The English capital invested in tropical pro- 
ductions in the East and West Indies, had been, by emancipation in 
the latter, reduced from $750,000,000 to $650,000,000 ; while, since 
1808, on the part of foreign nations $4,000,000,000 of fixed capital 
had been created in slaves and in cultivation wholly dependent upon 
the labor of slaves." 'The odds, therefore, in agricultural and com- 
mercial capital and interest, and consequently in political power and 
influence, arrayed against the British tropical possessions, were very 
fearful — six to one.' 

This, then, was the position of England from 1840 to 1844, and 
these the forces marshalled against her, and which she must meet and 
combat. In all her movements hitherto, she had only added to the 
strength of her rivals. Her first step, the suppression of the slave 



Relations of Enghuid to Liberia. 45 

trade, had diminished her AVest India laborers 100,000 in tvventy- 
tliree years, and reduced her means of production to that extent, 
giving all the benefits, arising from this and fmm the slave trade, to 
rival nations, wlio have but too well improved their advantnges. But, 
besides her commercial sacrifices, she had expended $100,000,000 
to remunerate tlie planters for the slaves emancipated, and another 
$100,000,000 for an armed repression of the slave trade. And yet, 
in all this enormous expenditure, resulting only in loss to England, 
Africa had received no advantage whatever, but, on the contrary, she 
had been robbed, since 1808, of at least, 3,500,000 slaves, (McQueen) 
who had been exported 'to Cuba and Brazil from her coast, making 
a total loss to Africa, by the rule of Buxton, of 11,666,000 human 
beings, or one million more than the whole white population of the 
United Stales in 1830, and more than three times the number of our 
present slave population. 

Now, it was abundantly evident, that Great Britain was impelled 
by an overpowering necessity, by the instinct of self-preservation, to 
attempt the suppression of the slave trade. It was true, no doubt, 
that considerations of justice and humanity were among the motives 
which influenced her actions. Interest and duty were, therefore, 
combined to stimulate her to exertion. The measures to be adopted 
to secure success, were also becoming more apparent. Few other 
nations are guided by statesmen more quick to perceive the best 
course to adopt in an emergency, and none more readily abandon a 
scheme as soon as it proves impracticable. Great Britain stood 
pledged to her own citizens and to the world for the suppression of 
the slave trade. She stood equally pledged to demonstrate, that free 
labor can be made more productive than slave labor, even in the 
cultivation of tropical commodities. These pledges she could not 
deviate from nor revoke. Her interests as well as her honor were 
deeply involved in their fulfillment. But she could only demonstrate 
the greater productiveness of free labor over slave labor, by opposing 
the one to the other, in their practical operations on a scale coexten- 
sive with each other. She must produce tropical commodities so 
cheaply and so abundantly, by free labor, that she could undersell 
slave-grown products to such an extent, and glut the markets of the 
world with them so fully, as to render it unprofitable any longer to 
employ slaves in tropical cultivation. Such an enterprise, success- 
fully carried out, would be a death blow to slavery and the slave 
trade. " But," says McQueen, " there remained no portion of the 
tropical world, where labor could be had on the spot, and whereon 
Great Britain could convenienfly and safely plant her foot, in order to 
accomplish this desirable object — extensive tropical cultivation — hut 
in tropical Africa. Every other part was occupied by independent 
nations, or by people that might and would soon become independent." 
Africa, therefore, was the field upon which Great Britain was compelled 
to enter and to make her second grand experiment. Her citizens 
were becoming convinced that it was unwise, if not unjust, to abstract 
laborers, even as free emigrants, from Africa, to be employed in other 
4 



46 Relations of England to Liberia. 

parts of the world, when their labor might be employed to much 
better a Ivantage in Africa itself. The government could, therefore, 
safely resort to some modification of her former policy. 'I'o confine 
her efforts for the recovery of her prosperity, within the limits of her 
own tropical possessions, would be to abandon the vast regions of 
trjpiccd Africa to other nafions, and thus permit them, by taking 
possession of it, to redouble the advantages over her which they 
already possessed. By employing the labor q/" Africa tvithin Africa, 
she would cut off the supply of laborers derived by other nations 
from tlie slave trade, and would have an advantage over them, not 
only of the capital expended in the transportation of slaves from 
Africa, but she would have a gain of seven-tenths in the saving of 
human life now destroyed by the slave trade. British capital, 
instead of being directly and indirectly employed in the slave trade, 
as has been fully shown tiy the Hon. H. A. Wise, lato American 
minister to Brazil, could be more honorably and safely invested in 
the cultivation of tlie richer fields of tropical Africa itself. 

In her West India experiment, however, England had been taught 
the all-important lesson, that intelligence must precede voluntary 
industry. Her Niger expediiion of 1842, already noticed, was 
based upon this principle, and hence the extensive preparations 
connected with that movement, for tlie improvement of the intelligence 
and morals and industry of the natives. But the terrible mortality 
which destroyed that enterprise taught her another lesson, that white 
men cannot fulfill the agtncy of Africa's intellectual eleoaiion. 
Since that period, England has been mostly occupied with the seule- 
meiit of her difliculties with Ciiina, and her war with the Sikhs of 
India, and she has made but little progress in her African affairs ; 
excepting by explorations into the interior and negociatioiis with the 
powers interested in the slave trade. 

In the meantime the colony of Lilieria had been pursuing its quiet 
and unostentatious course, and working out the problem of tlie colored 
man's capability for self-government. The active industry of that 
handful of men, had created a commerce of much importance, and 
supplied exports to the value of $100,000 annually. Its declaration 
of independence was published to the world at a period the most 
auspicious. France, under those generous impulses so characteristic 
of her people, had herself trampled the last relics of despotism in the 
dust, and (leclared the Republic. Great as she herself is, she diil not 
despise the little African republic, but, extending her view down the 
stream of time, discerned in it the germ of future empire and greatness, 
and therefore, she welcomed it into the family of nations. But lest, 
in its feebleness, it should receive a wound to its honor, or an injury 
to its commerce, from an attack of the dealers in human flesh infesting 
its borders, with distinguished liberality she offered the use of her 
war vessels for their destruction. 

England, too, found herself in a position inclining her to favor the 
young republic; nay, not only inclining but imposing upon her the 
necessity of promoting its welfare. Impelled by her own interests 



Relations of England to Liberia. 47 

and wants, to secure extensive tropical cultivation, by free labor, in 
^ifrica, she liad been surveying; the whole vast field of tliat continent, 
the only country now remaining where her grand experiment could 
be commenced, and found much of it already occupied. France, fully 
alive to the importance of the commerce with Africa, had, within a 
short period, securely placed herself at the mouth of the Senegal and 
at Goree, extending her influence eastward and southeastward from 
both places. She had a setdement at Albreda, on the Gambia, a short 
distance above St. Mary's, and which commands that river. She had 
formed a settlement at the mouth of the Gaboon, and another near 
the chief mouth of the Niger. She had fixed herself at iMassuah 
and Bure, on the west shore of the Red Sea, commanding the inlets 
into Abyssinia. She had endeavored to fix her flag at Brava and the 
mouth of the Jub, and had taken permanent possession of the im- 
portant island of Johanna, situated in the center of the northern outlet 
of the Mozambique channel, by which she acquired its command. 
Her active agents were placed in southern Abyssinia, and employed 
in traversing the borders of the Great White Nile; while Altriers on 
the northern shores of Africa, must speedily be lier own. Spain had 
planted herself, since the Niger expedition, in the island of Fernando 
Po, which commands all the outlets of the Niger and the rivers, from 
Caraeroons to the equator. Portugal witnessing these movements, 
had taken measures to revive her once fine and still important colon- 
ies in tropical Africa. They included 17° of latitude on the east 
coast, from the tropic of Capricorn to Zanzibar, and nearly 19^ on the 
west coast, from the 20th° south latitude, northward to cape Lopez. 
The Iniaum of Muscat claimed the sovereignty on the east coast, from 
Zanzibar to Babelmandel, with the exception of the station of the 
French at Brava. From the Senegal northward to Algeria was in the 
possession of the independent Moorish princes. Tunis, Tripoli, and 
Egypt were north of the tropic of Cancer, and independent tributaries 
of Turkey. 

Here, then, all the eastern and northern coasts of Africa, and also 
the west coast from the Gambia northwards, was found to be in the 
actual possession of independent sovereignties, who, of course, 
would not yield the right to England. Southern Africa, below the 
tropic of Capricorn, already belonging to England, thouffh only the 
same distance south of the equator that Cuba and Florida are north 
of it, is highly elevated above the sea-level, and not adapted to tropical 
productions. The claims of Portugal on the west coast, before 
noticed, extending from near the British south African line to Cape 
Lopez, excluded England from that district. From Cape Lopez 
to the mouth of the Niger, including the Gaboon and Fernando 
Po, as before stated, was under the control of the French and 
Spanish. 

The only territory, therefore, not claimed by civilized countries, 
which could be made available to England for her great scheme of 
tropical cultivation, was that between the Niger and Liberia, embra- 
cing nearly fourteen degrees of longitude. But this territory includes 



48 Relations of England to Liberia. 

the powerful kingdom of Dahomey and that of Ashantee, whose 
right to the sovereignty of the soil could not, probably, be purchased, 
as was tliat of the former petty kings on the line of coast occupied 
by Liberia. Their territory, however, and that of Liberia, together 
with the whole of the vast basin of the Nigei-, under the hand of 
industry could be made to teem with those productions, the command 
of which were of such essential importance to England. But both 
Dahomey and Ashantee were engaged in the slave trade, and, like 
other parts of the continent, nine-tenths of the population held as 
slaves. — (Dr. Goheen.) This territory, therefore, could not be 
made available to England until she could succeed in securing the 
discontinuance of their connection with the slave trade and the abolition 
of their system of slavery; and not even then, as we have before proved, 
until intelligence should be introduced and diffused and industry begot- 
ten — a ivork of generations. But negotiations in relation to these ob- 
jects had been commenced, says M'Queen, in 1844, under favorable 
auspices, and the king of Dahomey had agreed to abolish the slave 
trade, and had favorably received some Wesleyan missionaries. 
England has, since that period, successfully exerted her influence in 
other quarters for its suppression. In the British House of Com- 
mons, lately, Lord Palmerston announced, that the Bey of Tunis had 
abandoned within his dominions, not merely the slave trade but slav- 
ery itself — that the Sultan of Turkey had prohibited the slave trade 
among his subjects in the eastern seas — that the Imaum of Muscat 
had abolished it within certain latitudes — that the Arabian Chiefs in 
the Persian Gulf have also abandoned it — and that the Shah of Persia 
has prohibited it throughout his dominions. Thus, then, though the 
system of an armed repression of tlie slave trade has entirely failed, 
as before shown, yet the hope is springing up that it may soon be so 
circumscribed that its extermination can be more easily efiected by 
encircling the remaining parts of the coast with Christian colonies. 
But all these movements, important as they are to the cause of 
humanity, do not, in the least, check the slave trade with Cuba and 
Brazil, and the reason seems to be this : the stave trade is not a 
business by itself, and the slave traders are not a distinct class of men. 
The trade is so mixed up with the general business of the world, 
that it can derive facilities from the most innocent commercial trans- 
actions. In Brazil it is neither unlawful nor disreputable, and, it is said 
that nobody abstains from it, or from dealing wdlh those concerned in 
it, from any fear of law, scruples of conscience, or regard of charac- 
ter ; and that to trade with Brazil at all is to deal with a slave trader, 
or with some one who deals freely with slave traders. Hence, Eng- 
lish capitalists in loaning money in Brazil, or English manufacturers 
in filling orders for goods from Brazil, are furnishing facilities for the 
slave traders to prosecute their infamous pursuits. The ship-builders 
of the United States, in selling fast-sailing merchant vessels to Brazil- 
ians, are furnishing to slave traders the means for transporting slaves 
from Africa. Thus British capital and industry and American skill, 
though, to the superficial observer, employed in a lawful way, are 



Relations of England to Liberia. 49 

indirectly furnishing the means for the prosecution of the slave trade, 
and affording facilities to those engaged directly in it, which, if with- 
drawn, would greatly embarrass their operations, and make it much 
less difficult to suppress it. Nor has the success of England, in 
securing the above named acts for the suppression of the slave trade, 
accomplished anything in her greai work oi' ej tensive tropical free 
labor cultivation in .dfrica, as the means upon which she relies to 
recover her former position, and to break down the prosperity of her 
rivals. 

In Sierra Leone, the commercial aflairs being in the hands of white 
men, has prevented that advancement in industry, and in the know- 
ledge of business among the colored population, which must exist 
before habits of active industry will be adopted by them. But in 
Liberia all the business is in the hands of colored men, and some of 
them have accumulated fortunes. Their success has encouraged 
others to follow their example, and industry is beginning to prevail. 
The great work of tropical cidtivalion by free labor has been success- 
fully commenced by the Freemen of Liberia. Tropical products 
have been exported in small quantities, from the colony to England. 
Its coffee was (bund to be superior to that of all other countries, except 
Mocha, and about equal to it. The coffee tree, in Liberia, produces 
double the quantity, annually, which that of the West Indies bears. 
Its cotton, a native of its forests, is of a superior quality. Its capacity 
for producing sugar has been tested, and found equal to any other 
country. Capital and labor only are required to make Liberia more 
than rival Louisiana, because frosts never touch its crops, and labor- 
ers will not be thrown idle in the former, from that cause, as they are 
in the latter. Such is the nature of the soil and climate of Liberia, and 
such the easy cultivation of the products used for food, that the labor 
of a man, one third of his time, will supply him with necessary sub- 
sistence, leaving him the remaining two-thirds for mental improvement 
and to cultivate articles for export. An industrious man in Liberia 
must, therefore, become rich, and able to indulge his taste for the 
elegancies of life, leading him to the purchase of foreign commodities. 
Liberia, therefore, offered to England a field in which she could at 
once commence her experiment. All that is needed in Liberia to 
develop its resources, and to give it the ascendancy over all other 
portions of the tropical world, is capital and labor-. The first can be 
abundantly supplied by England ; the second liy the United States and 
Africa. But African labor, beyond the limits of the colony where 
intelligence prevails, cannot be made productive until the education of 
the natives has been undertaken. This work, if extended very rapid- 
ly, must be performed, in a good degree, by emigrant teachers and 
missionaries from the United States. Hence the wisdom of the policy 
of England in now favoring our colony. We can supply teachers to 
aid in civilizing Africa. Great Britain cannot, and, disconnected from 
our colony, she cannot create intelligence and industry, and there- 
fore, cannot, at present, commence her scheme of extensive tropical 
cultivation without the aid of Liberia. 



50 Relations of England to Liberia. 

Here, now, we claim, is the solu tion of the question of England's pres- 
ent liberaUtv toward Liberia. Her own interests and purposes, demand 
an early demonstration of the practicability of employing free labor 
in opposition to slave labor, on an extensive scale, in tropical Africa. 
Her own African colonies have been, says McQueen, very injudicious- 
ly selected for extending an influence into Africa. But the position of 
Liberia is much more favorable, and will enable her, perhaps, from 
the head of the St. Pauls, to reach across the Kong mountains, and 
grasp the tributaries of the upper Niger, and, connecting the two 
rivers by rail-road, secure the commerce of the interior to the capital 
of the Republic, as the cities of New York and Philadelphia have 
secured that of the Mississippi valley. 

England, therefore, at the moment that President Roberts visited 
London, found herself in a position compelUng her to a change of 
policy toward our colony. Liberia at tliat moment, was the only 
territory under heaven, where could be commenced, immediately, 
her darling scheme of ej:te}isive tropical cultivation by free labor. 
And Liberia only, of all the territory that might be made available, 
contained the elements of success, — intelligence and industry. 
Here was England's position and here Liberia's. The old Empire, 
shaken by powerful rivals, and driven to extremity, was seeking a 
prop of sufficient strength to support her. The young Republic in 
the feebleness of infancy was needing a protector. That secret, 
unseen, hidden, invincible, and all-controlling Power, which had 
impelled England onward in lier giant eflorts to extirpate the slave 
trade and to abolish slavery, and which had inspired the hearts of 
American Christians to restore the colored man to Africa, and had 
watched over and protected the feeble colony until it could assume a 
national position ; that Providence which had made England's crimes 
of former years, to react upon and embarrass her in all her relations, 
had now brouirht, face to face, the Prime Minister ol England and the 
President of the Republic of Liberia. The first, was the representative 
of that once unscrupulous but powerful government, whose participa- 
tion in the slave trade, to build up an extensive commerce and to ag- 
grandize herself, had doomed the children of Africa to perpetual bond- 
age ; but who was now, as a consequence of that very slave trade, 
compelled to the most powerful exertions for its suppression, to save 
herself from commercial embarrassment and national decline : the se- 
cond, was the Executive of a new Nation — himself a descendant of 
one of the victims of the English slave traders — seeking the admis- 
sion of an African REPrBUc into the family of nations. The old 
Monarchy and the new Republic thus found themselves standing in 
the relation to each other of mutual dependtnce — the one, to secure 
a field for the immediate commencement of her grand experiment of 
rendering free labor more productive than slave labor, and of creating 
new markets for her manufactures, — the other, to obtain protection 
and to ofler the products of the labor of the freemen of Liberia to 
the commerce of the world. 

But it mav be asked, why Great Britain should be willing to aid 



Jielations of England to Liberia. 51 

Liberia in extendiiiff her influence over Africa, and thus introduce into 
the world a new nation who, as soon as its eighty millions of people 
are civilized and stimulated to industry, can have the preponderance 
over all the world in tropical productions, and consequently, have 
the means of acquiring power and influence in the world equal to that 
of other nations. The solution of this question is not difllcult. 

The policy of Great Britain, for a long period, caused her to grasp 
after foreign colonial possessions, and her glory and her strength was 
believed to be measured by the extent to which s>he could multiply 
her foreign dependencies. 'When her manufacturing interests began 
to multiplv, she found a great stimulus to this branch of her national 
resources,' in the raarkets^urnished by her colonies. The increased 
commerce thus created, furnished another channel for the employment 
of British capital and enterprise. The multitude of sailors required 
for the merchant service, were readily transferred to her navy in 
times of war, and gave her immense power on the ocean. ' But the 
unfortunate attempt of England,' says McCuUoch, in his statistical 
account of the British Empire, to compel the American colonists ' to 
contribute toward the revenue of the empire, terminating so disas- 
trously, has led her ever since to renounce all attempts to tax her 
colonies for anv purpose, except that of their own internal government 
and police.' Colonies, therefore, have since been cherished chiefly 
on account of the outlets they aflT)rd to her surplus population; the 
field they offer to private adventurers for the acquisition of fortunes, 
to be afterwards transferred to the mother country; the increase they 
add to her commerce : the markets which they furnish for her manu- 
factures ; and the agricultural or mineral products which they supply, 
in return, for consumption and use in England. 

An opinion, however, is besjinninor to possess the public mind in 
Eniiland, that the possession of colonies is not of the especial 
importance to her that they were once considered. Tlie expenditure 
for their government and defense often outweighs the political and 
commercial advantasfes realized from their possession. It is now 
believed, that her commercial and manufacturing interests can be as 
well if not better promoted, by a liberal commerce with independent 
states, than with colonies under her own contml. This conviction 
has been forced upon the English, chiefly by the results which have 
followed the Independence of the United States. The British go- 
vernment now derives ten times more advan'a<re, says McCvlloch. 
from intercourse with the United States, than when she had a 
Governor in every state, or than i^he has derived from all her other 
colonies put tosrether. In a more comprehensive view of British 
relations, bv Porter, in his Proirress of Nations, we find it stated, 
that, in 1837, the exports of Great Britain to the United Stales 
amounted to more than half the sum of her shipments to the whole 
of Europe, while of her entire foreign exports, amounting to S235,- 
000,000, only one-third was consumed by her colonies. 

But as other governments have arisen and attained stability, and 
encourasjement has been afforded by them to home industry, the 



52 Relations of England to Liberia. 

instinct of self preservation has led to the adoption of such restric- 
tive duties as would protect their people, in the infancy of their 
manufacturing efforts, against the superiority in machinery, capital 
and skill of older nations. In this way England has been so much 
restricted, from time to time, in her commercial operations, that, in 
1844, (Westminster Review) her exports to the European states, 
notwitlistanding their vast increase of population, were considerably 
less than they had been forty years ago. 

But England has been embarrassed, not only by the restrictive 
duties of other governments, but many of them are beginning to rival 
her, in the sale of mamtfactures, in those countries whose markets 
are still open to foreign competition. This rivalry in manufactures 
is one of more serious import to Great Britain than even the rivalry 
which opposes her in tropical productions. The latter is to her as 
the arteries, the former the heart. The truth of this assertion will 
be seen in the following statements. 

The great leading interest of England, — her principal dependence 
for the maintainance of her power and influence, — is her manufac- 
tures. Out of this interest grows her immense commerce, and from 
her commerce arises her ability to sustain her vast navy, giving to 
her such a controlling influence in the aflairs of the world. ' Wealth, 
civilization, and knowledge, add rapidly and indefinitely to the 
powers of manufacturing and commercial industry.' All these Great 
Britain possesses in an eminent degree. 'It is asserted that the 
manufactures of England could, in a short time, be made to quadruple 
their produce — that so vast is the power which the steam engine has 
added to the means of production in commercial industry, that it is 
susceptible of almost indefinite and immediate extension — that 
Manchester and Glasgow could, in a {ew years, prepare themselves 
for furnishing muslin and cotton goods to the whole world — that with 
England the great difliculty always felt is, not to get hands to keep 
pace with the demand of the consumers, but to get a demand to keep 
pace ivith the hands employed in the production.' 

Witli such resources and capabilities, and with such interests 
involved in their development and extension — interests involving the 
very existence of the empire — England is not to be easily defeated 
in her purposes. When restricted or excluded from one market, 
she speedily seeks or creates another. The intelligence, the enter- 
prise, and the energies, of her subjects, are called fortli by govern- 
merit, and made subservient to the promotion of her interests and the 
extension of her commerce and her power. The desert or savage 
Islands of the sea; the bulwarks of India, or the walls of China; 
the frozen regions of the north, or the tropical suns of the south, 
present few obstacles to her enterprise. Nor need we stop to prove, 
in detail, that the almost irresistible energies of Great Britain, thus 
put forth, and embracing in their range all the earth, _^nr/ their chief 
motive power in her desire to extend the sale of her mamfactures. 
Crusli her manufactures, and the throne will soon totter to its fall. 
But what gives a tenfold interest and importance to her enterprises, 



Relations of England to Liberia. 53 

is, that wherever she goes, wherever her standard is planted, a 
Christian Civilization, tliough forming no part of her design, 
almost invariably follows her conquest of, or treaty with, a pagan 
nation or a savage tribe. The greatness of England, and her con- 
sequent necessities, are thus compelling her to the fulfillment of a 
mission of vast moment to the world ; and in its execution she seems 
likely to be driven from point to point until she completes the earth's 
circuit. Though slie " meaneth not so," yet she may emphatically 
be called the great agent for the extension of civilization. She 
is now, it seems, compelled to expend her energies upon Africa, so 
as to secure to herself the advantages arising from its civilization. 
Two hundred thousand of her own subjects are now annually emi- 
grating to other countries. This is to England an annual loss of 
two hundred thousand laborers, whom she cannot profitably employ 
at home. But were the hordes of barbarians in tropical Africa 
civilized, and engaged in developing its immense resources, the 
demand created in the supply of their wants would furnish labor for 
all unemployed English subjects, and add immensely to the pros- 
perity of Great Britain. 

It will now be seen that England is not oidy interested in encour- 
aging the cultivation of tropical productions by Liberia, as a means 
of destroying the slave trade and slavery, and of crippling the 
energies of her rivals, but that she is also most deeply interested in 
securing the markets which Liberia will open up in Africa for 
English manvfactures . 'J'ropical Africa can never afford an outlet 
for European emigration, and can, therefore, be of no importance to 
England for that purpose. Its commercial advantages can be as well 
secured in the hands of independent states, as if England had posses- 
sion of it as colonies. Great Britain, therefore, can, consistently with 
her policy and her interests, employ her influence and her power in 
promoting the welfare of Liberia. Nay, more, it will be seen, when 
all the facts stated are considered, that she is compelled, by her own 
necessities, to use the most energetic measures for the speedy exten- 
sion of the influence and the sovereignly of the Republic of Liberia, 
as the point where she can, at the earliest period, commence her 
important experiment. Other points hereafter, may, am! no doubt 
will be speedily made subservient to her purpose, but Liberia is her only 
present reliance for the commencement of her great work. Civiliza- 
tion is here already introduced and begins to radiate into the interior, 
and only needs the necessary aid and time to extend its blessings 
throughout Africa. 

It is true, that England will have rivals, in the sale of her manu- 
factures, in Liberia. She cares but litde for that, however, because 
her facilities for manufacturing are, at present, and must be for years 
to come, so much superior to that of all other countries, that she can 
successfully rival them, even in their own markets, when not embar- 
rassed by tarifls. She has taken good care to make the first treaty 
of commerce and amity with Liberia, and thus stands in the fore- 
ground, as the friend of the young Republic. 



54 Relations of England to Liberia. 

Now, then, we repeat, witlioiut the fear of successful contradiction, 
that Great Britain finds herself in a position, at this moment, so 
disadvantageous, both in lier relations to tropical cultivation and in 
the sale of^her manufactures, that one principal means of extrica- 
tion is in the success of Liberia, and that she is, therefore, vitally 
interested in having the young Republic extend its influence, with all 
possible rapidity, over the continent of ^frica ; so as, at the earliest 
practicable day, to have her eighty millions of naked or half-clothed 
inhabitants subjected to civilization, stimulated to industry, clothed in 
British fabrics, and, in return, producing abundantly those tropical 
products now become absolutely necessary, for the manufactures, the 
luxuries, and the necessities of life, amongst the civilized nations of 
the temperate zones. And with such interests involved in the suc- 
cess of Liberia, and with such power and influence enlisted in her 
support, humanly speaking, how can our Colonization scheme fail ? 

But we must hasten to a conclusion of this protracted discussion, and leave many 
points of additional interest untouched. Indeed nothing but the great importance of 
the bearings of the questions which have been investigated, can justify the occupa- 
tion of so much time. The cause of humanity, however, demands that attention 
shall be given to these topics. Africa has long groaned hopelessly to be delivered 
from the deluge of woes which has for ages rolled over her. The dawn of her re- 
demption is now appearing. The light oif civilization and Christianity has broken 
forth upon her shores and begins to dispel the gloom of centuries. 'I'he slave traders, 
like so many spirits of darkness, are compelled to limit their hellish labors to districU 
yet unillumlned by that light. JNothing seems to be wanting to the accomplishment 
of Africa's redemption but a sufiicient increase of the agencies which have already 
been productive of such rich fruits in l.iberia. These agencies are being rapidly 
called into action. The Providence of God is operating upon the nations, most di- 
rectly concerned in the question of Africa's future destiny, so as to make it their in- 
terest to favor the civilization of tiie inhabitants of that continent. Great Britain, as 
already shown, is enlisted by considerations, commercial and mamifucluring, which 
she never overlooks, to aid in this great work of philanthropy. «he can supply un- 
limited sums of money to stimulate enterprise and industry, and to promote civiliza- 
tion in Africa, and she will do it as last as it can be profitably employed. 

The people of France, having achieved their own liberties, soon pronounced the 
freedom of the slaves in their islands. France did not wait to calculate the political 
and commercial considerations involved in emancipation, before she obeyed the dic- 
tates of humanity. Herself free, slie desired the freedom of the world. Having pos- 
session of many important points on the coast of Africa, she will crush the slave 
trade wherever she has control, and thus greatly aid in its sujipression and in the 
promotion of .-African civilization. But as she has not within herself, the command 
of the agencies necessary to civilize the districts which she owns, she may lind herself 
compelled to call upon the colored people of the United States to commence and carry 
on the work, and thus promote our colonization enterprise. And as France has al- 
ready proved herself capable of acts of the greatest magnanimity, we must ask other 
one favor, though it may seem, in us, an act of presumption. But as an .American 
Kepublican, we can appeal to French Republicans. It is of the utmost importance to 
the Republic of Libjria, that it should have guaranteed to it, by other nat^mis, the 
right to purchase and aimex the whole line of coast from Sierra Leone to Cape Lo- 
pez, so that nil other power may be allowed to interfere with the extension of its 
jurisdiction over that region. The Gaboon, now in the possession of France, lies at 
the southeastern limits of this region, and is one of the most valuable points in Africa. 
We ask of France, therefore, tiiat she shall olfer the Gaboon country, as a free gift, 
to the free colored people of the United States, upon which to form a new state ip 
connexion with Liberia. And, from the circumstances under which her title to this 



» Concluding Remarks, SS 

territory was acquired, during the Monarchy, it is believed that the Republic, when 
the subject is presented for its consideration, will yield it for that purpose. 

The United States is also deeply interested in the success of Ijiberia, and is being 
involved in difficulties and perplexities propelling her onward to a point where she, 
too, must exert herself in behalf of the young Republic. Commercial and manu- 
facturing interests will influence her, as they have already influenced Great Britain. 
But in adilition to these, other considerations of far deeper import will soon press 
themselves upon our attention. The rapid increase of our slave population is begin- 
ning to alarm the stoutest advocates of the perpetuation of slavery. With their 
uniform ratio of increase continued, which, it will be remembered, k three per cent, 
per annum, in 50 years, from 1850, the slave population of the l^ited States, will 
number l!i,000,000, with an annual increase of 360,000. In 100 years hence, they 
will have increased to 44,500,000, with an annual increase of 1,300,000. And in 
150 years their numbers will be 165,000,000, and the yearly increase 5,000,000. 

Now, it is utterly impossible that this number of slaves can be held in bondage, 
or be profitably employed, by the southern states of our union, for half the period 
included in our calculation. But how emancipation is to be ultimately efl'ectcd, we 
cannot foretell. This we know, that it must be dune. The South is becoming aware 
of the difficulties of the future of ulavery, and are beginning to look at its appalling 
consequences. Many states have already legislated to prevent the sale and transfer of 
the slaves of the more northern states into their bounds, and it would not De unexpected, 
if, in a few years, the slave holders of the more northern slave states, should be unable 
to find a market for their surplus slaves. And whenever this event occurs, the masters 
will soon be over-supplied with laborers which they cannot employ profitably, and 
emancipation must take place. And when ever this work commences, the work of 
Colonization to Africa will be greatly increased. Liberia, therefore, is to the south- 
ern states, as well as to those of the north, and to the nations of Europe, a point of very 
great interest. Not one of them, scarcely, can carry out their present policy without 
promoting the interests of our colony. In these facts we find an additional argument 
for the perpetuity of the Republic of Liberia. 

And further, if the scheme of tro[)ical cultivation in Africa, by free labor, can be 
successfully carried out, at an early day, and of which we entertain but little doubt, 
the work of emancipation in this country may be forced to a consummation much 
more rapidly than many suppose. The United States, it must be borne in mind, have 
not one acre of tropical lands. Our crops of cotton and sugar, are both liable to 
blight, by frosts, before they are fully matured and f^ecured. But it is not so in 
Africa. More than three fourths of the lands of that vast continent are within the 
tropics, and secure from the action of frosts. The employment of capital, in tropical 
culiivation in Africa, would long since have been extended to millions upon millions 
of dollars, but for the error committed in attempting it by ivhile men and amongst 
an uncivilized people. This error is now detected and will not be repeated, 'i'he 
American Colonization Society has, by its efforts, dispelled the doubts and difficulties 
overhanging the question of Africa* (Civilization. Capital, in a few years, can 
be employed more profitably in Liberia than in the United States. Capital and labor 
will soon both find their way to Africa, and perhaps in modes not now anticipated. 
It is no uncommon occurrence now, for a slave holder, in this country, to let his 
slave out on parole, to earn a fixed price, upon the payment of which to the master, 
the slave is a freeman. It is very rare, in such cases, that a breach of faith occurs. 
Now, it may not be long, if the southern market should be closed against the sale of 
northern slaves, before this system of self-emancipation may be carried out upon a 
grand scale, by masters bargaining with their slaves to emigrate to Liberia, there 
to earn the price of their freedom. Such an arrangement would add to the amount 
^f free labor products which must come into competition with those of the slave labor 
of our southern states. In this way Kentucky and Virginia could retaliate, with 
fearful effert, upon South (Jarolina and Louisiana. 

But, as we hasten to a conclusion, we can only throw out suggestions without 
waiting to dwell upon them. We are fully aware, that the idea that tropical culti- 
vation in Africa, can seriously affect the value of slave labor in the United Stales, for 
centuries to come, will be considered visionary. But we must ask all such doubters 
to recollect, that commercial revolutions occur almost as suddenly, in this age, as 



56 Concluding Remarks. • 

political ones. The world has learned how to achieve great things in a short time. 
We western men have witnessed such wonders pass before our eyes, that we believe 
capital and labor, skill and enterprise, can accomplish any thing within the range of 
human power, and that what formerly required centuries for its consummation, can 
now be executed in months or years. Born in Ohio, when it was yet comparatively 
a wilderness, I, myself, have seen it rise to what it now is, and have also seen State 
after State called rapidly into existence, in the wilderness of the west, in less than 
half a century. And yet the sources of this prosperity and this progress are unex- 
hausted and inejch^stible. No limits can be set to this progress but the impassable 
barriers of the graat Pacific. 

Give to Liberia intelligent and industrious emigrants, and she, too, will advance in 
prosperity and in greatness. The materials of such an emigration exist in the United 
States, and our colored men, generally, are only awaiting the evidences of the truth 
of what is said of Liberia. When convinced that it is not a trap to eiulave them 
again, as they have been told, they will move with the heart of one man, as the Is- 
raelites of old removed from Egypt to Canaan. The sympathies of our colored men 
are with England and France. These nations possess their confidence more fully 
than Americans. England and France are both interested in blessing Africa with 
civilization. A formal invitation from these two governments, addressed to our free 
colored people, and asking them to emigrate to Liberia, under their protection and 
patronage, would enlist tens of thousands to remove at once to the young Republic. 
These emigrants, being settled at suitable points along the coast, would greatly aid 
in checking the slave trade, and thus, its risks being much increased, the British 
capital employed at present in that traffic, would be withdrawn from Brazil and 
traufiferred to Liberia. A large concentration of capital and labor in Africa, which 
are both practiciible, would soon be felt, in the markets of the world, by the increased 
supply (if free labor tropical products brought into competition with those of 
slave hbor. When this event shall occur, as occur it will, a reduction of the value 
of slave labor must follow ; and this together with the rapidly increasing bulk of the 
now unwieldy mass of our slave population, must greatly hasten the period of 
final emancipation. 

Now, if the possession of the sovereignty of the soil of tropical Africa, and the 
control of its products, be of such vast political and commercial importance to such 
governments as France and England, as their policy towards Africa, heretofore, so 
fully indicatos; we would re.-ipectfully enquire of our cilored people, whether their 
possession and control are not of equal importance and value to African men them- 
selves 1 And, if the monopoly of tropical products once secured to Englishmen an 
ascendancy among nations; will not the same advantages be of equal importance to 
African men, and- afford to them the means of rising into national greatness and na- 
tional glory ? And, further, if Africa is of such importance to European nations, 
that they will expend millions of dollars to secure to themselves the advantages of its 
products and its commerce; what will posterity, what will the world say, of those of 
our African population, luho refuse to receive such a rich inheritance, though offered 
to their acceptance as a free gift ? And, again, if the destruction of the slave trade 
and the abolition of slavery, be matters of such vast moral importance as to call for 
the united efforts of Christian men, throughout the world, to destroy them; and if 
these greatest of all modern moral enterprises, inferior only to our purely missionary 
efforts, cannot be accomplished, but by our Christian colored men forming themselves 
into a rampart around the African coast; and if colored men can, by engaging in 
this great moral and religious movement, better their own condition and secure to 
themselves and their children, and ultimately to the millions of Africa, all the blessings 
of social, civil, and religious liberty ; why should we not urge them to a fiiir and candid 
consideration of the question of returning to Africa as civilized and clilfetianized men, 
to take peaceful possession of that ancient inheritance from which theS^ uncivilized 
and pagan forefathers were forcibly torn ? 

But we shall not further weary your patience. We had designed presenting an 
argument for the success of the Republic of Liberia, based upon the innate moral 
principle existing within her, and growing out of the religious freedom secured to 
her citizens, and the ample means of reUgious instruction provided for her people. 
But we forbear. 



A LECTURE 



AERICAN CIVILIZATION 



INCLUDING A BRIEF OUTLINE 



SOCIAL AND MORAL CONDITION OF AFRICA; 



AND THE RELATIONS OF 



AMERICAN SLAVERY TO AFRICAN CIVILIZATION. 



DELIVERED IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES OF THE STATE OF OHIO, JANUARY 19, 1850. 



Bt DAVID CHRISTY, 

AGENT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIKTT. 



COLUMBUS: 
PUBLISHED BY J. H. RILEY & CO. 

PRINTED BY SCOTT & BA800M. 

1853. 



Uf^ 



CoLUMBDS, Feb 5th, 1850. 

Dear Sir : — The undersigned members of the General Assembly of Ohio, 
beinsr desirous of securing to the public the means of fully and calmly in- 
vestigating the subject of the provision which ought to be made for our colored 
people, and, believing that the facts contained in your Lecture on African Civi- 
lization, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, on the 19th ult., would 
materially aid in the promotion of that object, we would respectfully 
copy of the same for publication. 

To DAVID CHRISTY, Esq. 
Agent of the African Colonization Society. 



Geo. W. Bull, 
J. S. Whiton, 
H. B. Spelman, 
James M. Burt, 
David Dresback, 
Daniel Keller, 
John A. Weyer, 
S. S. Sprague, 
S. LuTZ, 
Dennis Smith, 
E. B. Fee, 
Andrew Ferguson, 
Wm. p. Simpson, 
Fisher A. Blocksom, 
John Graham, 
J. H. Dubbs, 
V. Chase, 



H. G. Blake, 
Anselm T. Holcomb, 
Richard Green, 
James Rodgers, 
Joshua Worley, 
J. F. Patton, 

J. S. COPELAND, 

M. R. Waite, 
Wm. B. Fairchild, 
Seth Woodford, 
John Beaver, 
Miller Moody, 
Wm. Given, 
John Gill, 
Samuel Patterson, 
j. s. conklin, 
G. W. Barker, 



Wm. Lawrence, 

E. K. ECKLEY, 

H. B. Payne, 
W. Dennison, Jr , 
Samuel T. Worcester, 
Geo. D. Hendricks, 
Ruel Beeson, 
Chauncey N. Olds, 
PiNKNEY Lewis, 

H. ViNAL, 

W. Howard, 
Barnabus Burns, 
James Cunningham, 
J. W. Wilson, 
James Myers, 

M. S. MUSTIN. 



Gentlemen : — It affords me pleasure to comply with your request for the 
publication of my Lecture on African Civilization, as connected with, and de- 
pendent 7ipon, American Colonization ; my only cause of regret being, that more 
of time and of talent has not been employed in its discussion, than it has been iu 
my power to devote to the subject. 

Since I had the honor, one year ago, of addressing the Representatives of the 
people of Ohio, on the subject of African Colonization, many events have 
transpired which serve to encourage us in our great work. One or two of these 
I may mention. Dispatches from President Roberts, recently received, state that 
agreements are now about completed for the purchase, from the native authorities, 
of the territory between Sierra Leone and Liberia, and that he is only awaiting 
the arrival of funds to perfect the titles. The effect of buying this region, and 
extending over it the laws of Liberia, will be the total suppression of the slave 
trade, and the emancipation from slavery, of the population included within its 
limits — numbering, perhaps, over 100,000 men. But the principal point of im- 
portance, connected with this movement, is the fact that the purchase now being 
made, to a considerable extent, will be paid for by the liberal donation of $5000, 
by Charles M'Micken, Esq., of Cincinnati, and that the lands purchased by his 
donation, are to be presented, as a free gift, to the colored people of Ohio, to afford 
them an opportunity of putting forth all their energies, intellectual and moral, 
in aiding to impart to Africa, a Christian Civilization. And a still further sub- 
ject of interest presents itself, in the very recent movement of some of the in- 
telligent colored men of Ohio, who are adopting preparatory measures to take 
possession of this territory at the earliest practicable moment. 

Yours, respectfully, 

DAVID CHRISTY. 



JAMES ft CO. , STKBSOTTPEBS. 



LECTURE 



AFEICAN CIVILIZATION 



The close of the last century exhibited the social and moral condi- 
tion of the work! in such an aspect as to prove the excellency of 
Christianity over all other religious systems. Paganism had long 
since wrought out its legitimate results, and demonstrated its impo- 
tency to produce a high degree of human happiness. Mohamme- 
danism, a shade better in its principles, had progressed but little 
beyond Paganism in promoting the welfare of its votaries. Both 
of these systems, constructed on principles consonant with fallen 
human nature, were,of necessity, becoming effete, and stood before the 
world as gigantic edifices, whose foundations were giving way, and 
the whole structures tumliling into ruins. 

Christianity, embracing principles antagonistic to all impurity and 
every form of injustice, and demanding of men implicit obedience to 
God, was no welcome visitor upon earth, but had to endure, from its 
earliest introduction, the most bitter enmity and the most sanguinary 
opposition. At the end of 330 years from Christ, in addition to the 
hostility of the Jews, it had passed through ten successive persecu- 
tions by the Roman Emperors, which, failing to suppress it, only 
served to prove that the religion of the Saviour of the world was 
indestructible. 

When, therefore, despots discovered their inability to annihilate 
the new religion, combinations were formed to adopt it in the room 
of preexisting systems, or rather, perhaps, to engraft it upon them, 
and mould it to suit their purposes. But notwithstanding that 
Christianity was thus corrupted and perverted into an engine of 
political and ecclesiastical despotism, it still retained much of its 
innate vitaHty, and greatly advanced the social and moral welfare 
of those subjected to its influence; thus proving its superiority over 
the false religious systems which had so long prevailed. 

It being an essential element of the religion revealed by Christ to 
generate independence of thought, its believers were often found 



4' Introduction. 

holding opinions at variance with those established by law. These 
tendencies, it was feared, would make the unrestrained toleration 
of Christianity dangerous to Despotism, because freedom of thought 
and of speech, allowed to the people, would weaken confidence in 
the infallibility of the judgment of kings, and thus peril the stability 
of thrones. The art of printing being undiscovered, the living 
teacher, for a long period, was the chief agency for the propagation 
of the new faith. To silence his voice, when not in unison with 
despotic will, it was conceived, would limit independence of thought, 
and the desired uniformity of opinion and implicit obedience to rulers 
be secured. Hence arose efforts, extending through many centuries, 
and leading to the shedding of torrents of blood, to force upon the 
world a unity of faith. But the employment of the rack and the 
dungeon, the gibbet and the stake, only tended more fully to evolve 
another inherent principle of the doctrines taught by the Son of 
God— ^Ae natural equality of mankind, and the individual respon- 
sibility of man to God, demanding for the human race equal 
rights and liberty of conscience. 

A doctrine so inconsistent with preconceived opinions, and 
fraught, it was perceived, with such dangers to civil and ecclesi- 
astical despotisms, could not but lead to the most vigorous exertions 
for its suppression. Success so far attended their efforts, that the 
light of the Gospel became dimmed and ages of darkness ensued, 
during which despotism reposed in safety amid the moral night it 
had produced, until the forgotten Bible, chained within walls of 
massive stone, as if to hide it from the people, was discovered by 
the master-spirit of his age, and its divine light made to reillumine 
tlie world. 

The occurrence of this event with the nearly simultaneous dis- 
covery of the art of printing, which led to a rapid and indefinite 
multiplication of copies of the Scriptures, now imposed upon despots 
the double task, of exterminating the living teacher, and of preventing 
the circulation of the printed Bible. Persecution again followed 
persecution, until, under the guidance of a kind Providence, a few 
of the advocates of civil and religious liberty, fleeing for their lives 
from Europe, Bible in hand, found a refuge in the new world. Here 
the legitimate fruits of Christianity, when untrammelled by the 
devices of men, were soon developed, and the American Republic 
arose, as a beacon to the world, teaching what a Free Christianity 
can accomplish for mankind. 

In the mean time the principles of religious liberty had gained 
some favor in a few of the nations of Europe, and produced their 
appropriate results, though in a more limited degree than in the 
United States, because religion was left less free. And thus there 
was a progressive movement on both sides of the Atlantic, leading to 
a higher civilization and a greater sum of human happiness than the 
older systems had ever produced, or than has yet been attained 
where they still prevail. 

Near the close of the last century, therefore, the contrast could be 
clearly drawn between Paganism, Mohammedanism, a Christianity 



Introduction. 5 

excluding the Bible from the people and modeled to fetter the 
freedom of tlioiight and of speech, and a free Christianity taking ihe 
Bible alone as its basis, and, without the intervention of any human 
agent, placing the soul of man directly in communion with God. 
'J'he eflects ol these various systems, in advancing or retarding human 
happiness, and in promoting or checking civilization, had become 
so manifest, that the Christian philanthropist, acting under the im- 
pulses of the law of love, resolved upon giving to the world a Free 
Christianity. 

It is unnecessary, before an intelligent audience, to enumerate the 
obstacles which impede the progress of the agents employed to bestow 
a Free Christianity upon the world, with the view of securino- to 
mankind a higher civilization and increased enjoyment in this life, as 
well as to impart to the hearts of men t!ie hope of eternal happiness 
in the world to come. It is only necessary to our present purpose 
to say, that, in all tliese efforts there has been no field selected which 
was so dark and unpromising, and none that so long baffled all exer- 
tions, and so utterly failed of success, as that of Africa previous to the 
colonization of its coast by civilized and Christian colored men. The 
facts in relation to this subject were fully presented in our lecture, 
one year ago, in this hall. It is there shown that two hundred and 
forty years of effort by the Catholics, and one hundred and forty by 
Protestant missionaries, including the period of the operations of our 
Liberia Colony, had proved, conclusively,, that the redemption of 
Africa from barbarism cannot be accomplished by white men, but 
that colored men must be employed in that vast work of benevolence. 
It was also proved, that the slave trade, after the expenditure, by 
England, of more than one hundred millions of dollars for its sup- 
pression, instead of being diminished in extent, has been steadily and 
rapidly increasing ; and that the conviction is forced upon the public- 
mind, that this greatest of crimes against humanity can only be sup-^ 
pressed by surrounding the coast with colonies of intelligent colored 
men, who must be protected and sustained by Christian governments 
until the civilization of the native population can be effected. 

The important truth being ascertained, that the agents in the civili- 
zation of Africa must be men of African blood, the great question 
which presses itself upon the consideration of the philanthropist and 
the Christian, is this : Where can we obtain colored men in suffi- 
cient numbers, who are properly educated and enlightened, and who 
are themselves the subjects of redeeming grace, to act as agents in 
bestowing a Christian civilization upon Africa ? 

To answer this question, is a prominent object of the present lec- 
ture. But, to obtain a just conception of the magnitude of the work 
that lies before us, it becomes necessary to determine the extent and 
character of the social and moral evils existing in Africa ; and this is 
the more necessary, because of the prevalence of the opinion, that the 
degradation of Africa is chiefly due to the slave trade. Our investi- 
gations, we believe, will fully sustain the truth of the assertion, that 
even if it were possible to break up the slave trade by other means 
than colonization, but little would be gained to the cause of humanity 
5 



6 Social and Moral Condition of Africa. 

and little good accomplished for Africa ; and that if the benevolent 
designs toward the African race, which so generally prevail among 
good men, be executed, there must be a union of elTort of all the friends 
of this oppressed people, in supporting and extending the work of 
colonization in Africa ; and further, that the United Slates is placed 
in such a peculiar position, as clearly to indicate tliat we alone, of all 
the nations in the world, are able to give to Africa that form of Chris- 
tianity and of civil government which will secure to her the liighi'St 
degree of civilization and the greatest amount of prosperity. The 
materials collected have been arranged under the following heads. 

I. The social and moral condition of Africa, independent of the 

slave trade. 
II. The modifications produced by the slave trade upon the social 
and moral condition of Africa. 
III. The reladon which the slavery of the United States bears to 
the recovery of Africa from barbarism. 

I. The earlier travelers in Africa, meeting with many acts of 
kindness, formed favorable opinions of the natives, and the impression 
has been created, that the greater part of the evils oppressing that 
country have had their origin in the slave trade, and are not a neces- 
sary consequence of iier own social and moral condition. A better 
acquaintance with the state of the interior has tended to correct the 
first impressions. The iron despotism of their kings, the absolute- 
ness of their domestic slavery, the objects of their idolatrous worship, 
the modes of performing their religious rites, the cruel superstitions 
existing everywhere, their degrading customs, their human sacri- 
fices, their cannibalism, it was discovered, must have dated their 
origin far back beyond the period of the commencement of the slave 
trade, and produced the most debasing effects upon the inhabitants. 
The slave trade, it was evident, had not originated the greater evils 
under which Africa groaned, but icas itself one of the legitimate 
fruits of the social and moral degradation previously existing and 
still perpetuated on that continent. A brief statement of facts will 
prove the accuracy of the view here presented. 

When England, in 1808, prohibited the slave trade, it was antici- 
pated that, as this traffic diminished, and a legitimate commerce 
increased, the civilization of the African people would necessarily be 
accomplished. AVhile slie had the monopoly of the slave trade, she 
had erected many forts on the coast of Africa, and on declaring it 
illegal and commencing her operations for its suppression, they were 
immediately transformed into trading posts for opening up a legal 
commerce with the natives. This change of policy, requiring many 
agents to reside on the coast and to visit the interior, soon made the 
world better acquainted with Africa. 

As the power of Great Britain was considered almost omnipotent, 
it was not doubted at first, but that the slave trade would be annihi- 
lated tlirough her influence and exertions, and the consequent 
civilization of Africa immediately follow. But the elements oj 



Human Sacrifices. 7 

civilization were not then so well understood as at present. It was 
believed that to extend commerce was to extend civilization. The 
commerce conducted between the enlightened nations of Europe, it 
was known, had gready promoted their civilization. It was soon 
found, however, that the causes of African degradation lay deeper 
than had been conceived. The difference between the intellectual 
and moral capacities of the civilized and uncivilized man was found 
to be almost infinite. The horrible superstitions by which the 
minds of the people of Africa had been darkened and bewildered 
must first be eradicated before civilization could progress. Com- 
merce, unaided, it was soon demonstrated, could not accomplish diis 
work. An active commerce at Cape Messurado, conducted foi 
three hundred and fifty years, had failed to advance the natives a 
single step toward civilization. Similar results had followed else- 
where. Barbarous tribes, then as now, it was discovered, were in- 
capable of comprehending moral truth while in the savage state; and 
could only be brought under its influence by a careful course of 
moral teaching. But the appetites and passions of their natures 
being the same as with other men, commerce unavoidably imparled 
to them the vices of civilization, and introduced ctmong than the 
elements of physical destruction, instead of planting the seeds of 
moral renovation. The result of missionary efibrts elsewhere, had 
led to the discovery that the light of the gospel must be let into the 
soul before the darkness of heathenism, in which it was shrouded, 
could be dissipated, and the intellectual and moral elevation of the 
people be promoted. Christianity, the only parent of a pure moral- 
ity, it had been perceived, was the primary clement in raising men 
from barbarism, and that civilization, industry, and commerce were 
necessary fruits of the gospel wherever planted. These facts being 
observed, though as yet but dimly and by few, led to efforts for the 
introduction of Christianity into Africa, and the missionaries thus 
employed furnished to the world additional light upon the sul«ject 
of its social and moral condition. The establishment of colonies 
upon the coast has also afforded further opportunities of investigation 
and supplied fuller information in relation to the terrible moral gloom 
overshadowing Africa. 

It is, then, fA'om the investigations of British agents, travelers, mis- 
sionaries and colonists, that we derive our facts in relation to the social 
and moral condition of Africa. 

We shall begin with their human sacrifices. According to their 
ideas, the future world will be a counterpart of this ; will present the 
same objects to the senses, the same enjoyments, and the same dis- 
tinction of ranks in society. Upon this belief are founded proceed- 
ings not only absurd, but of the most violent and atrocious description. 
A profusion of wealth is buried in the grave of the deceased, who is 
supposed to carry it into tlie other world: and human victims are 
sacrificed, often in whole hecatombs, under the delusion that they will 
attend as his guards and ministers in the future mansion. This sav- 
age superstition seem? to have prevailed to a peculiar extent in those 



8 Human Sacrifices. 

great interior monarchies, which, in other respects, are more civilized 
than the rest of Western Africa. 

The Ashantees have two annual customs, as they are called, says 
Mr, Bowditch, a British agent, of 1819, in which the King, and chief 
men, seek to propitiate the departed spirits of their ancestors, by the 
Bacrifice of a crowd of human victims. Foreign slaves and criminals 
are selected in preference, but as each seeks to multiply the number, 
unprotected persons cannot walk abroad without tlie hazard of being 
seized and immolated. At the death of any of the royal family, vic- 
tims must bleed in thousands ; and the same is the case when the 
king seeks from the powers above, favorable omens respecting any 
great projected undertaking. On the death of the king, a most hor- 
rid scene of human slaughter takes place ; all the sacrifices that had 
been made for the death of every subject during his reign being 
required to be repeated, to amplify that for the death of the monarch, 
and to solemnize it in every excess of extravagance and barbarity. 
The brothers, sons, and nephews of the king, affecting temporary 
insanity, burst forth with their muskets, and fire promiscuously among 
the crowd. Few persons of rank dare stir from their houses for the 
first two or three days, but drive forth their slaves as a composition 
for their own absence. The king's household slaves are all murdered 
on his tomb, to the number of a hundred or more, and women in abun- 
dance. As the king is allowed three tliousand three hundred and 
tiurtj^-three wives, and as the immolation of the wife on the death of 
the husband is customary in Africa, it is probable that many of the 
slaughtered women are the wives of the king, despatched to attend 
their deceased lord in another world. The king of Ashantee, other- 
wise a very amiable and benevolent sovereign, on the death of his 
mother, says Mr. Bowditch, devoted three tiiousand victims to water 
her grave, two thousand of whom were Fantee prisoners, and the rest 
levied in certain proportions on the several towns. 

Tliat this is no fabled account of the cruel superstitions of Ashantee, 
is evident from very recent testimony. As late as 1844, intelligence 
from Liberia, published in the African Repository, states that at the 
death of the late king, one thousand human victims were sacrificed. 

The kingdom of Dahomey is governed upon the same system as 
Ashantee, and with all its deformities — which it carries to a still more 
violent excess. The bloody customs take place on a still greater 
scale ; and the bodies of the victims, says Mr. B., instead of being 
buried, are hung upon the walls, and allowed to putrify. Human 
skulls make the favorite ornament of the palaces and temples, and the 
king has his sleeping apartment paved with them. 

This statement is confirmed by the testimony of the Rev. J. L. 
Wilson, missionary in Western Africa, in 1839, who writes, that 
"human sacrifices are still offered in great numbers, not only in Ashan- 
tee, but in all the petty principalities of the surrounding country. 
The story that the king of Dahomey has his yard paved with human 
skulls is no fable. There are Europeans on the coast who have seen 
it, and can bear witness to the truth of the statement." 

Governor Abson, of Cape Coast Castle, visited the king of Dahomey 



Human Sacrifices. 9 

at a time when six slave ships were at Whydah, anxious to make 
purchases, and when, owing to the scarcity of slaves, the prices had 
risen to nearly thirty pounds. But such was the strength of super- 
stition over avarice, tliat the king refused to sell his prisoners to tlie 
slave traders, preferring to put them to death for their skulls, in the 
contemplation of which the people seemed to take a horrible delight. 
When the governor inquired of tlie king, if his going to war was not 
to obtain captives to sell to the slave traders, he replied, " I have 
killed many thousands without thinking of the slave market, and 
shall kill many thousands more. Some heads I place at my door, 
others I throw into the market place, that people may stumble over 
tiiem. This gives a grandeur to my customs ; this makes my ene- 
mies fear me ; and this pleases my ancestors, to whom I send them. 
Dahomeans do not make war to make slaves, but to make prisoners 
to kill at the customs." 

The king of Dahomey used to hold a constant communication with 
his deceased father. Whenever he wished to announce to him any 
remarkable event, or to consult him on any emergency, he would send 
for one of his ablest messengers, and after delivering to him his errand, 
chop ofl' his head. It sometimes happened, that after the head was 
off, he recoUected something else which he wished to say, in which 
case a second messenger was dispatched, in like manner, with a post- 
script to his former message. Gov. Abson was present on an occa- 
sion of this kind. The poor fellow selected for the honor of bearing 
his majesty's message, aware of what was to happen, declared he was 
unacquainted with the road, on which the tyrant, drawing his sword, 
vociferated, "I'll show you tlie way," and with one blow severed 
his head from his body — highly indignant that ;m European should 
have witnessed the least expression of reluctance in the performance 
of a duty which is considered a great honor. 

Such seems to have been the inefficiency of British arrangements 
on the coast, at the period when Mr. Bowditch visited Africa; and 
such the want of moral influence exerted by the residents over the 
natives, that Sir James Yeo informed the committee of African mer- 
chants, that the impotence of their outposts were such, that they 
could not even prevent the offering of human sacrifices under their 
walls. Two victims, says Mr. B., had been sacrificed, with the most 
refined barbarity, in broad day, close to the fort of Accra. 

Human sacrifices, on a more limited scale, seem to be of common 
occurrence. The Rev. Mr. Schon, of the English Church Missionary 
Society, who accompanied the Niger Expedition in 1843, says that 
human sacrifices are offered by the Ibo people, residing one hundred 
and twenty miles above the mouth of the Niger. The usual ni.odcs 
of destroying life are to fasten the victims to the branches of trees 
close to the river and leave them to famish, or to tie tiieir legs together 
and drag Uiem from place to place until they expire, when the bodies 
are cast into the river to be devoured by alligators. In a tour of 
exploration along tiie coast, in 1839, the Rev. J. L. Wilson says, 
" We were informed that only a few days previous to our arrival, a 
neighboring chief had, in cojisequence of an eclipse of the sun, which 



10 Human Sacrifices. 

was regarded as ominous of approaching calamity, buried several oi 
his subjects alive ; and it was not known how many more would be 
subjected to the same fate." 

On the gold coast, the sliark is worshipped by the inhabitants. 
Every year, says Dr. Porter, the inhabitants of Bonney doom a guilt- 
less child to expiate, with its life, the follies and crimes of its destroy- 
ers. The poor babe is named for this bloody rite at its birth, from 
which time it is called their Jewjew, and allowed every indulgence 
that its fancy can wish for, until it arrives at nine or ten years of age, 
when its sanguinary doom must be fulfilled. Its tears and lamenta- 
tions avail uot; its parents have placed their feelings of nature on the 
altar of a mistaken devotion ; it is therefore left alone to plead with 
those that hope to benefit by its destruction. The sharks collect as 
if in expectation of the dainty meal being prepared for them. The 
spot chosen is a point of sand, into which a stake is driven at low 
water mark. The mother sees her innocent offspring bound to this, 
and as the tide advances, left alone. Various noises are made to 
drown the cries of the terrified child. Its litlle hands are seen im- 
ploring, and its lips calling for her aid ; the water soon reaches the 
stake, and the greedy monsters are seen by tlie lender victim quickly 
approaching with the deepening tide. The shouting mob stand 
watching the stake until the advancing tide has emboldened tlie sharks 
to approach their prey — then their dreadful revelry begins. No tear 
is shed for the poor sufferer, but the day is concluded with rejoicing 
and festivities. 

But we will only trespass upon your patience so far as to present one 
Anore case under this part of our investigations. The Liberia Lumi- 
/nary, of 1848, gives an account of the sacrifice of a human being, a 
short time previous, under circumstances which prove that there is 
no abatement of the power of superstition over men's minds in Africa, 
where the light of the gospel has not been reflected. 

A famous Goulah chief, anxious for success in a military campaign 
upon which he was setting out against the Condoes, applied to a Ma- 
hommedan priest to know what he should do to insure success. The 
priest inquired of him whether he was able to make the necessary 
sacrifice, to which he replied that he could make any sacrifice that 
could be named. The nefarious imposter then told liim he must .sac- 
rifice his son ! and, taking his dead body upon his shoulders, his feet 
swuno- around his neck, and his head hung behind him, in this man- 
ner advance before his troops to the contest, and victory would l)e 
certain ! ! The directions were complied with. Calling his son into 
a house, he caught him, deliberately lied him, and then, with his own 
parental hand, he cut his throat! Having offered this sacrifice, he 
and his troops prepared to advance toward the jurisdiction of their 
enemies ; then was this inhuman father seen with his deyd son on his 
back, in the manner directed, without any display of parental affec- 
tion or of emotion, save that aroused in his barbarous breast by the 
confident expectation of victory. Being successful in three subse- 
quent engagements, this horrible sacrifice will, no doubt, be hereafter 
considered as the sure precursor of victory. 



Idolatry. 1 1 

Such was Afrio?.n superstition in 1848, and such will it continue 
to be until Christianity dispels ihe gloom which overcasts the native 
mind. 

We turn now to African Idolatry. The native Africans, generally, 
have very obscure conceptions of the nature and attributes of God 
and of a future state of moral retribution ; while almost every super- 
stition that can degrade tlie human mind reigns in full sway. 

To express generally what is sacred, wliat is forbidden, what is 
endowed with supernatural powers, either beneficent or malignant, 
they employ the term fetiche or gri-gri. Everything which strikes 
the fancy of a negro is made his fetiche. This word is derived 
either from the Portugese word fetisso, a block adored as an idol, or 
from feliczeira, an enchantress. The Portuguese gave the name to 
the idols of the negroes on the Senegal, and afterward the word 
received a more extensive meaning. The general signification now 
given io fetiche, seems to be, an object worshipped, not representing 
any living figure. The grand natural fetiches are rocks, hills, or trees 
of remarkable size and beauty. But there are fantastic objects of 
veneration, which each individual adopts and carries about with him. 
Such are a piece of ornamented wood, the teeth of a dog, tiger, or 
elephant, a goat's head, a fish bone, or the end of a ram's horn. They 
believe the material substances which they worship to be endowed 
with intelligence, and the power of doing them good or evil : and also 
that the fetichere, or priest, being in council with their fetiche, is 
made acquainted with all that those divinities know, and thence is 
familiar with the most secret thoughts and actions of men. The 
household, or family fetiche, narrowly inspects the conduct of every 
individual in the house, and rewards or punishes each according to his 
deserts. The public fetiches are supposed to be equally watchful 
over community in general. 

These fetiches they set up in the houses, the fields, or the entrance 
and center of the villages, erect altars to them, and place before them 
dishes of rice, maize, and fruits. The better sort of families have 
weekly festivals on which they sacrifice a cock or sheep. This 
gri-gri or fetiche worship is universal, and hours would not suffice to 
detail the particulars connected with it, or the debasing influence 
which it exerts over the mind. 'I'he Rev. Mr. Schon found it prac- 
ticed far up the Niger. lie says, 1843, " They showed me their 
gods. Un'der a small shacle erected before almost every house, 
among the people of Iddah, were broken pots, pieces of yams, 
feathers of fowls, horns of animals, broken bows and arrows, knives 
and spears. Such are their gods ! It is easy to attack them or to 
expose them to ridicule, but not so easy to eradicate the supejstitious 
belief in them from out of the hearts of men." 

The framing of these fantastic objects of African worship, conse- 
crating them, and selling them at enormous prices, forms the chief 
occupation of the African priesthood. Various are the expedients 
resorted to by these priests, or gri-gri men, to obtain presents from 
the people, by operating on their superstitious notions. One mode is 



12 Devil JJ'orship. 

by teaching that food must be placed at the graves of the dead for the 
deceased person. The Rev. J. L. Wilson visited one town, where 
the bones of the deceased king, who had been dead many years, have 
been enclosed in a box, and deposited in a house appropriated exclu- 
sively for this purpose. Fresh food, water, and every comfort which 
a living man could wish, are daily deposited in the house. These 
provisions, the people are told by a gri-gri man, who statedly visited 
the place to hold converse with the dece.ised majesty, are devoured 
by the king. Mr. Wilson, after some difficulty, obtained leave to 
enter this sacred place, through the small opening aflbrding admit- 
tance, and found a bed, chairs, table, &c., used, no doubt, by the 
superintending priest during his visits. 

But in addition to the fetiche idol worship, idolatry of the more 
common form among pagans, seems also to be practised in Africa. 

In 1833, the Rev. Mr. Sciion wrote the Church Missionary Soci- 
ety, from Sierra Leone, that he had been assured that idol worship 
was practised in the town, but that those engaged in it, desired to 
evade detection. Seeing a number of people surrounding a house, 
he went to the spot and found indications convincing him that some 
idolatrous ceremonies were being conducted within doors. Attempt- 
ing to enter, he was repulsed. Returning some time afterward, in 
company with another missionary, and removing a little of the 
thatching, he looked in and beheld ten or twelve women prostrated 
before a hideous idol. Finding themselves discovered, the natives 
were thrown into the greatest confusion, and opening the door, 
allowed the missionaries to enter. The mere view, says Mr. 
Schon, was sufficient to fill the mind with horror. The large 
idol actually represented the devil, with a blood-stained face and 
two horns. Before him stood a water pot half filled with the blood 
of animals that were sacrificed to him. In another corner of the 
room were smaller idols and gri-gris, lying and hanging in great 
number; and fowls, which were sacrificed to them, were lying in their 
blood on the floor of the room. 

Another peculiar form of the African superstition is their Devil- 
worship. 'I'he people ciierish the general belief of a future state, 
little connected, however, witli any idea of moral retribution. The 
question is, whether they have faithfully observed the promise made 
to the fetiche. They uniformly, says the Rev. J. L. Wilson, ascrilie 
tlie works of creation to God, but regard the devil as the author of 
all providence. Hence will be seen at every entrance into their 
towns, a gri-gri pole, witii a rag upon it, or something of the kind, 
either to prevent his entrance, or conciliate his favor. They never 
open trade on board of a ship, without pouring a libation of rum 
into the water, as a portion with which the devil is particularly 
pleased. 

i'lie Rev. Mr. Wynkoop states, that at all the entrances in the 
enclosure, or roads to the town, are small houses called the 'j:rund 
devit-hoiise, where the people deposite difi"erpnt articles in them to 
conciliate his dreaded majesty. These presents, of course, form a 
part of the perquisites of the priests. 



Witchcraft. 



13 



Dr. A. C. Wilson, writing from the station at Fishtown, 1S40, 
says, " Today there was a buUock sacrificed to conciliate the devil, 
asking those favors of him that should be asked of God, and giving 
him the honor which belongs to Jehovah alone." 

The God whom the Africans are supposed to worship, says Dr. 
McDowell, who spent some time at the colonies, has been called the 
" devil,'' by European visitors. The place selected for the perform- 
ance of the mysteries connected with his worship, is in the center 
of some thick forest, called the gri-gri bush, or devil-bush. The 
influence which it is made to exercise over the people generally, is 
partly superstitious, partly political. The chiefs or head men meet 
once a month, and oA'er goats or other animals, as a sacrifice to this 
evil being or devil. Into this sacred forest no woman or boy is 
allowed to intrude, the penalty being death, foreign slavery, or a fine. 
The young freemen of the tribe are initiated into manhood by being 
taken into the devil bush, where they are shown a wooden cross 
erected, and a loud hoarse voice addresses them from the deep 
recesses of the wood, telling them certain things they must not do, 
upon the penalty of being seized by the evil demon, or spirit, and 
hung upon the cross to be an example to others. These instruc- 
tions, as might have been expected, are of a purely selfish character, 
having reference to tliemselves and tlieir own tribe. 

After any one has been initiated into tliese gri-gri mysteries, and 
oflfends the chiefs, they are liable to be taken into the devil-bush, 
from which they never return. Nor dare any one ask, " Where is 
he ?" " The devil has taken him," ends all farther inquiry or hope, 
and his friends must not mourn for him. If a chief suffers in this 
way, his people and his wives must suffer along with him, unless by 
timely notice from the priest, they desert the doomed one, and attach 
themselves to another chief or tribe before the arrival of the day of 
execution. 

When Bob Gray, chief at Grand Bassa, sold the devil-bush, which 
now forms a part of the settlement of Edina, to the Agent of the 
American Colonization Society, the whole surrounding tribes were 
about to arm against him for his impiety, and he had to pay a heavy 
fine, as well as solicit the protection of the colony to save his head. 

The Methodist church now stands not far from the spot where the 
blood of the victims of their superstition and cruelty has flowed pro- 
fusely. Many a wretch has been dragged into the depths of that 
forest gloom never to return. 

The superstitions of the African tribes seem to be the operation 
of a wild veneration manifested in the form of vague fears of some 
evil influence being continually impending over them, which they try 
to obviate by the performance of some ridiculous mummeries, and 
suspending round their persons their gri-gris. Out of this feeling 
arses the common belief in fVitchcraft, and the overwhelming super- 
stitious credulity which everywhere prevails, affording to the priests 
immense power over the inhabitants. Dark and magical rites, 
numberless incantations and barbarous customs, are continually 



U Witchcrajt. 

practised, and in the power of which the people have unbounded 
confidence; and such is their influence upon the general mind, that 
they are accompanied by all the terrors that the dread of a malignant 
being and the fear of univnown evil can invest them. 

In the attempts to bewitch any one, the usual mode of operation is 
said to be, to take a gourd or vessel, containing, among other ingredi- 
ents, a combination of difiereiit colored rags, cats' teetli, parrots' 
feathers, toads' feet, eggsliells, fishbones, snakes' teeth, and liz- 
zards' tails. This is secretly placed near the dwelling of the person 
intended to be brought under its influence, and upon whom the ope- 
rator wishes to inflict an injury. 'J'error immediately seizes the 
individual, and either by resigning himself to despair, or by the 
secret communication of poison, in most cases, death is the inevitable 
consequence. 

Upon the death of any one, therefore, suspicion is excited that he 
has been bewitched or poisoned, by some one, and the friends inva- 
riably institute an inquiry into the question of who had "■made 
witch,'''' for the deceased. The power of determining this question 
rests with their priests, and of course constitutes one of the chief 
sources of their influence over the people. The instances of cruelty 
growing out of these trials are frequent and horrible. A certain 
number of witnesses are selected, and every individual who can be 
an object of suspicion is required to plunge his hand into a pot of 
boiling oil. If innocent, it is alleged, he suffers no pain; if guilty, 
his hand is severely burnt. Should the person thus found guilty, 
assert his innocence, he is subjected to another, and what everybody 
regards as a sure and infallible test, that is to swallow a strong and 
large polalion oi' sass-ivood. It either produces deatli, or violent and 
distressing vomiting. The quantity of tlie tea, says the Rev. J. L. 
Wilson, 1836, that is given to the man, when his accusers are bent 
on his destruction, is altogether incredible — enough, were there no 
poisonous qualities in it, to destroy the life of any one. Several 
deaths occurred from this practice, near Mr. Wilson's station, but 
he finally succeeded in putting a stop to such glaring injustice and 
cruelty. 

But this cruel mode of trial is stiU prevalent outside of the colonies 
and mission stations. The journal of the Rev. Mr. Payne, of the 
Protestant Episcopal Mission, Dec. 9, 1848, records the death of 
three women, in rapid succession, from this ordeal, who had been 
accused of causing the death of a man wounded in batfle. Upon 
Mr. Payne remonstrating strongly and endeavoring to put a stoj) to 
the work of death, iJie chief accosted him thus : " Payne, what 
kind of a man are you ? We are trying to rid ourselves of the 
witches who have caused our late reverses, and you are angry ? 
We verily thought the deya, who declared these women to be 
witches, lied; but, behold, on trial, all prove guilty!!" "Alas," 
adds Mr. Payne, "for a bloody superstition which receives new 
strength from every additional victim ! Help Lord, for vain is the 
help of man." 

The cases arising under this means of detecting supposed crim- 



Polygamy. 15 

inals are numerous, one only, in addition, will be presented. The 
Liberia Herald, 1844, says, "Directly after the death of King Sliaka, 
of the Gallinas, a secret inquisition was set on foot to ferret out the 
witch-man. For a long time the search was fruitless; at length a 
gri-gri man, by continued incantations and daring diabolical com- 
munications, succeeded, and llie hapless regicide was brought to 
light. Confronted with his accuser, he protested that he was inno- 
cent—the doctor protested he was gudty, and the all-discovering 
ordeal was resorted to, to decide the question. Of course the man 
was condemned to die, and as King Shaka was big Jcing too much— 
the severity of the punishment was proportioned to the dignity of 
the deceased. Sentence was pronounced and thus executed — the 
man was taken to the mouth of the river, his tongue cut out, and he 
thrown alive to the sharks. 

" This ordeal," continues the Herald, " is a most powerful engine 
of state policy in Africa. It is the right arm of an African monarch. 
He has only to keep on terms with the doctors or gri-gri men, who 
are the constituted inquisitors, and nothing is easier than to rid him- 
self, at any time, of a dangerous or aspiring subject. Whether the 
ordeal be the tia-^sy water, the boiling oil, or the heated iron, they 
are never at a loss for means to produce any result they wish. If it 
be the first process, they weaken or strengthen the decoction, and 
increase or lessen the quantity so as to render it innocent or fatal, 
just as interest or inclination may lead. If the second or third, they 
can, by previous application of some preparation to the part to be 
operated upon, enable it, for a short time, to resi.^t the effect of heat; 
and then, by hurrying the ordeal, the accused escapes unscathed. 
If they conclude to murder tlie victim, they reverse the operation, 
and guilt is as clear as noonday. Thus this system puts the life of 
the whole community in the hands of this class of men, and renders 
it a formidable fraternity of conjurers." 

Polygamy, says the Rev. J. L. Wilson, 1834, is universal. A 
man's importance in society is according to the number of his wives. 
These are regarded as his property, and in reality are his servants. 
They are usually purchased at a very early age. One of the wives 
in any family is the mistress of the others, and is honored by them 
as such. They are all in strict subjection to their husbands, and not 
unfrequently are severely chastised for the slightest offense. The 
women perforin all the drudgery. At the age of about twelve the 
females are taken to the devil-bicsh, and retained for something like 
two years. They are under the care of the grand devil-man, who, 
at stated times, rushes out into the midst of them, and utters his ora- 
cles. They are induced to believe that he is a supernatural being, 
and his dress and manner both confirm it. So far as the object of this 
confinement could be learned, it was to prepare them for the duties 
of life — one of the chief of which is to make a full and unreserved 
communication of everything they may know to their husbands. 

In 1839, Mr. Burgess, writing from Zanzibar, on the east coast of 
Africa, says, "That in all the tribes bigamy was common. No 
sacredness was attached to the marriage relation. They retain tlieir 



16 Slavery. 

wives as long as they are pleased with them, and then sell them. In 
some tribes one man would have from one to twenty wives. The 
Manomoisies sometimes have as high as eighty. Wives are bought 
and sold. The females do the work ; men work till they obtain 
wherewith to buy a wife, tlien work no more, only trade and fiijht." 

It has been stated already, that the king of Ashantee, 1819, kept 
three thousand three hundred and thirty-three wives. All the ieuiale 
sex is considered as at the king's disposal, says Mr. Bowditt-h, and 
an annual assemblage takes place, when, having made a large selec- 
tion for himself, he distributes the remainder among his grandees, 
who are bound to receive them with the humblest gratitude. 

Tiie nuuiber of wives possessed by the king of Dahomey equalled 
those of the king of Ashantee. The stoutest of them, savs Mr. 
Bowditch, were enrolled into a military regiment, regularlv trainei. 
to the use of arms, under a female general and subordinate otlicers: 
and according to the testimony of several Europeans, went through 
the exercise with great precision. Governor Abson was present 
at Abomey when (he king inarched against the Eyoes, on which 
occasion he was attended by a body guard of eiglit hundred women. 

English papers, for May, 1849, brought us some details of recent 
negotiations by an English agent, with the king of Dahomey, iiom 
which we learn that llie number of his armed women is near six 
thousand at present. They constitute his body guard, and never 
leave him, and are answerable for the safety of his person. 

It was the boast of the king of Eyeo, that his queens, linked hand 
in hand, would reach from one end of the kingdom to the other. 
These women, says Mr. Bowditch, act as the king's body-guards, 
perform the most menial offices, and are seen in every pan of the 
kingdom, carrying on their heads heavy burdens from place to phice, 
favored only with an exemption from ordinary toil. 

But we need not multiply quotations. Enough is given to prove 
that one of the greatest evils which can mar the social condition of 
any people — polygamy — prevails to a vastly greater extent in Africa 
than in any other portion of the world. 

Next in order comes tlie domestic slavery of Africa. In addition 
to the degrading customs and cruel superstilions, which cannot 
have had their origin in the slave trade, slavery, to a frightful 
extent, exists in Africa, -and the wars and demoralization produced 
by ambition or the hope of making prisoners, for slaves, and to 
secure plunder, would still continue if slavery in all the world 
beside were abolished. On this subject the materials are ample, 
but we must limit ourselves to some of the more prominent facts. 
This view was forced upon the mind of Burkhardt, the African 
traveler, who, on concluding his labors, says, "Europe will have 
done but liiile for the blacks, if the abolition of tlie Atlantic slave 
trade, which is trifling compared with tlie slavery of the interior, is 
not followed up by some wise and grand plan, tending to the civil- 
ization of the continent." 

Mr. Burgess, writing from Zanzibar, on the eastern coast of Africa. 



Slavery. 17 

says that "slavery is common in all the tribes. They buy their 
own people. Some Manoinoisies own four or five hundred slaves." 

Major Denham, the English traveler, states, that on the occasion 
of the marriage of tlie shiek of Bornou with the daughter of the sultan 
of Mandara, a combined expedition w^as sent against the Musgow 
nation, which, after a desperate struggle, brought in three thousand 
slaves ; and the nuptials were celebrated with barbaric pomp, fur- 
nished out of the tears and captivity of so many victims." 

The Major further states, that, "For the last eight years the shiek 
of Bornou has carried on a very desperate and bloody war with the 
sultan of Begharmi, who governs a powerful and warlike people, 
inhabiting a very large tract of country south of Bornou, and on the 
eastern bank of the Shary, Although meeting with some reverses, 
and on one occasion losing his eldest son in the wars, who was 
greatly beloved by the people, he has, upon the whole, been success- 
ful ; and is said to have, from the first to the last, destroyed and led 
into slavery more than thirty thousand of the sultan of Begharmi's 
subjects, besides burning his towns and driving off" his flocks." 

Kano, the capital of a province of the same name, and one of the 
principal towns of the kingdom of Soudain, has a population of from 
thirty to forty thousand inhabitants. Of these, according to Captain 
Clapperton, who visited it, more than half are slaves. The sale 
and purchase of slaves is as common as the sale or transfer of any 
other species of property. He describes the slave market as very 
extensive. 

Even the wives of the kings, as already stated, are no better than 
slaves, in the common and harshest acceptation of the word ; and as 
the pomp of the sovereign consists principally in the multitude of 
his wives, it is easy to conceive the numbers of one class alone who 
are reduced to servitude. 

Dr. Gohcen, the very intelligent and successful physician to the 
African mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United 
States, after more than a year's residence in Liberia, thus writes: 

" Slavery in the United States, in its worst form, and under the 
lash, is not as bad as slavery here in its mildest form. It is a well 
known truth, that in Western Africa nine-tenths of the whole popu- 
lation are in a state of slavery. The females are all sold at an early 
age, to be, when they grow up, wives, or beasts of burden, as their 
proprietors may require. If the majority here were not slaves, how 
would they ever get into the foreign slave dealers' hands ? They 
are sent in hundreds from the interior to the slave-factories and sold. 
They are not deprived of their liberty when they leave these shores — 
they only change masters. Slaves they are, and such they have 
been to the most savage rulers, who inflict upon them the severest 
punishments, and feel free to kill, to eat, or to throw them alive upon 
the funeral pile, at pleasure. Slavery in the United States, though 
an evil, cannot possibly be as great a one as it is here. Here is the 
country where slavery, with all its legitimate and concomitant hor- 
rors exists. Africa is the mother that clings to it as her only, her 
dearest offspring. And here is the country so deeply dyed in the 



18 Tyranny, Cruelties, TVars. 

sin of slavery as to require all the Abolitionists and all the Coloniza- 
tionists, and their united means and labors for centuries, in clearing 
its skirts and removing the foul stains that make her the prize money 
of other nations." 

The testimony in relation to the domestic slavery of Africa might 
be greatly amplified, and the truth of the proposition, that it would 
continue, though slavery in all the world beside were abolished, be 
more fully proved, but what has already been presented is deemed 
quite sufficient for our purpose. 

The evils arising from the tyranny, cruelties, and wars of Africa, 
have been incidentally presented, in the course of our investigations, 
and we shall not dwell upon them at length, though volumes might 
be filled with details of the most shocking character. 

The Rev. J. L. Wilson, 1839, says, "Only a few years since, the 
king of Ashantee sent the governor of Cape Coast sixty jaw bones 
of human victims which he had killed, as an evidence of his despotic 
power, thinking at the same time it would prove to be a present of 
great value. The king of Ashantee thinks as litde of taking off the 
heads of his subjects as those of his chickens." 

The Rev. Mr. Shrewsbury, an English missionary in South 
Africa, 1829, thus describes a native chief, recently deceased. "His 
cruelties almost exceeded belief; he rioted in blood; and never had 
higher enjoyment than when killing his own subjects. When his 
mother died, immense numbers of his people were summoned to- 
gether to weep, and the mourning was appointed to continue three 
days and nights. Every artifice was made use of to provoke sorrow, 
and cause the tears to flow ; but it was impossible for the multitude 
to continue weeping constantly ; and yet, when any one did not shed 
what the tyrant considered a sufficient quantity of tears, he Avas in- 
stantly despatched for want of affection to his mother's memory. In 
the course of those three davs three hundred persons are said to have 
been put to death. And whenever a man was killed, his wife or 
wives, and all his children were destroyed on the same day." 

The Rev. Mr. Champion, missionary in King Dingaan's country, 
South Africa, says, 1836, "The king holds his eminence by many 
customs that are in vogue. He eats the first green corn, and at the 
celebration calls all the nation together to dance before him. Sugar- 
cane, sweet potatoes, and such like, are cultivated and reserved for the 
king. No one can sit in a chair but the king. One of his captains 
was here not long since, who was afraid even to sit on a box, lest he 
should resemble the king. Blankets, except the very meanest de- 
scription, are royal ones. For the common people to obtain and 
wear them would be instant death. Anything at all fine goes to the 
king, and for others to wear or use them is to aspire to be like the 
king. The ivory comes all to the king, and for this purpose he 
sends out many men to hunt elephants. With the teeth he obtains 
of the whites 'presents of beads, cloths, &;c., which he bestows on 
his immense fiimily and his favorite captains. When they return from 
war, all the cattle are driven to the chief town as the king's property. 



Tyranny, Cruellies, Wars. 19 

Some he bestows on the brave and on hi? generals, but the many are 
reserved to increase his immense herds and for slaughter. 

" He has another stern grasp on his people, in that punishment 
which is inflicted for small as well as great offenses. A word that 
bears in any way against the king, or is suspected even, and the die 
is cast, the man is counted for dead. A captain is killed, and often 
his family and dependents follow him. The king wishes perhaps 
to show his power, and to see spoils coming in from slaughter, and 
he sends, as lately, and in one night, after by stratagem he had col- 
lected all at home, cuts oft' a rich country of his own tribe or his own 
subji CIS. 

" Cases of individuals put to death are almost always occurring. 
The people are shy to talk about the subject, after they have told 
you it was by order of the king. It is almost always because they 
are alleged to have done something wrong, but where or when, no 
one knows ; only when reasoned into a corner, they say the king 
knows. Always it is, yes, father, it is all right — when even son, 
mother, father, or brother is slain." 

Infanticide of a peculiar nature prevails in Africa: twins are never 
allowed to live. As soon as they are born, they are put into two 
eartlien pots and exposed to beasts of the forest ; and the unfortunate 
mother ever afterward endures great trouble and hardships. 

The exposure of the aged and infirm, says Mr. Moff'at, after they 
are incapable of supporting themselves, is common. They are left 
in desert places, with an allowance of food and water to subsist them 
for a time, after which, if not sooner devoured by beasts of prey, 
they are suflfered to perish of hunger. 

"Another sanguinary custom grows out of the superstitious vene- 
ration of tlie Africans for the shaik. The person upon whom suspi- 
cion of Clime has fallen, is ordered by the king to swim across the 
river, when, if innocent, he is expected to arrive safe upon the other 
side ; but if otherwise, the sharks are to have him for breakfast. 
The trial takes place, says Dr. Porter, before his majesty and an 
immense concourse of people; the suspected person is brought forth 
and forced into the river, when the poor victim makes every exertion 
to reach tlie destined goal, but, strange to say, the king has never yet 
left the beach witliout being fully convinced of the truth of his sus- 
picions, as no instance is on record of the sharks ever allowing him 
to be in tlie wrong." 

The testimony already adduced, proves that many of the sanguinary 
wars of Africa have their origin in other causes than the stimulus fur- 
nished by the slave trade. Were additional testimony needed in 
proof of tins point, much is afforded in Moff'at's Southern Africa. 
The writer, long a resident missionary, and an active agent in many 
of the scenes described, has given the world a work of great interest 
and value. The army of forty thousand Mantatees, who approached 
and attacked the tribes in which Mr. Moff'at was laboring, were 
themselves refugees, robbed of their catde and driven from their 
homes, by superior force, and compelled, in turn, to rob others, diat 
they themselves might live. Having heard that there were immense 



2,0 Cannibalism. 

flocks of sheep at the English colony at the Cape, which they wished 
to possess, they were fighting their way in that direction, when 
compelled to change their course by the valor of the better armed 
forces which they encountered. They do not seera to have had any 
connection whatever with the slave trade. 

The Rev. Dr. Philip says, that king Moselekatse, who had de- 
scended on the thickly-peopled regions of the north, like a sweeping 
pestilence, capturing thousands of slaves, and leaving in his course 
nothing but dilapidated walls and heaps of rubbish, mingled with 
human bones and skulls, had never traded in slaves. The cruelties 
of the Matebele nation, of which Moselekatse was king, is thus 
depicted by Mr. Moffat, and will furnish an appropriate conclusion 
to these investigations. "Nothing less than the entire subjugation, 
or destruction of the vanquished, could quench their insatiable thirst 
for power. Thus, when they conquered a town, the terrified inhab- 
itants were driven in a mass to the outskirts, when the parents and 
all the married women were slaughtered on the spot. Such as had 
dared to be brave in the defense of their town, their wives and their 
children, were reserved for a still more terrible death ; dry grass, 
saturated with fat, was tied around their naked bodies and then set on 
fire. The youths and girls were loaded as beasts of burden, with 
the spoils of the town, to be marched to the homes of their victors. 
If the town was in an isolated position, the helpless infants were left 
to perish either with hunger, or to be destroyed by beasts of prey. 
On such an event the lions scent the slain and leave their lair ; the 
hyenas and jackalls emerge from their lurking places in broad day, 
and revel in the carnage ; while a cloud of vultures may be seen, de- 
scending on the living and the dead, and holding a carnival on human 
flesh. Should a suspicion arise in the savage bosom that these 
helpless innocents may fall into tlie hands of friends, they will pre- 
vent this by collecting them into a fold, and after raising over them 
a pile of brushwood, apply the flaming torch to it, when the town, 
but lately the scene of mirth, becomes a heap of ashes." 

In relation to the cannibalism of Africa, a subject so revolting, we 
will not be expected to give many details. Of the existence of this 
practice there can be no doubt. The annual report of the American 
Colonization Society, 1828, contains the following statement: 

" The most fierce and atrocious conflicts, instigated by slave 
traders, have prevailed during the last two years, among the tribes in 
the vicinity of Monrovia. The crime of cannibalism, shocking, it 
may be supposed, even to barbarous natures, has been perpetrated 
during these wars. On the capture of a small town among the Go- 
rahs by the Deys, thirty victims were sacrificed to this detestable 
practice." 

Many are the witnesses who have borne testimony to the general 
prevalence of cannibalism over large districts of Africa. Very recent 
reports of scientific exploring companies sent out from France, also 
give sufficient evidence to prove the truth of the previous reports, 
leaving us under the painful necessity of believing that all that has 
been said of cannibalism in Africa is true. — See Appendix. 



The Slave Trade. 21 

As stated in the outset, the object of the investigations of the sub- 
jects coming under our first head, lias been to show tlie true state of 
Africa's social and moral condition, independent of the slave trade ; 
and to prove that even if it were possible to break up that traffic by 
other means than colonization, but litde would be gained to the cause 
\)f humanity and little good accomplislied for Africa, And have we 
not succeeded ? Have not fiicts enough been given, to prove that 
Africa's degradation is complete — that if the slave trade were this 
hour annihilated, and all the evils which we have enumerated as 
not dependent upon the slave trade still existing, the social and 
moral condition of that continent would demand the utmost efforts 
of Christians everywhere for its recovery from the horrors of 
barbarism. 

It might, by some, have been supposed that the catalogue of woes 
oppressing Africa, and belonging legitimately to herself, were 
enough to atone for her iniquities. But no : such heaven-daring 
violations of divine law, such impious disregard of the principles of 
justice and humanity, could not escape the indignation of the 
Almighty. The sufferings of wicked men, the consequence of their 
own transgressions, can never make atonement for their sins. There 
is no principle of God's moral government of nations, that will per- 
mit the stay of execution of judgment for transgression, but upon 
repentance. Africa had not repented, but was adding iniquity unto 
iniquity. Justice, therefore, cried for vengeance, and the slave traders, 
resembling more the demons of the lowest pit than men, were let 
loose upon this doomed people, to involve the oppressor and the 
oppressed in one common ruin. 

We shall see, however, before we close, that mercy was mingled 
ivith judgment. And we shall find that in the history of the African 
slave trade, and the events connected with it, we have another illus- 
tration of the truth of the proposition, that when God has designs of 
mercy toward a wicked people, the judgments with which he visits 
them for their sins, are adapted to secure their repentance and lead 
them back to Himself. 

n. The Modifications which have been produced on the Social and 
Moral Condition of Africa by the Slave Trade. 

Until introduced by the Moors, it appears that the trading in slaves 
was little known to the inhabitants of the interior of Africa. The 
prisoners taken in battle were reduced to slavery by the captors, and 
formed the marriage portions given to their children. It seems that, 
in general, they were humanely treated, excepting when the cruelties 
of their superstitions led to opposite results. It is, says Denham and 
Clapperton, to the pernicious principles of the Moorish traders, whose 
avaricious brutality is beyond all belief, that the traffic for slaves in 
the interior of Africa not only owes its origin, but its continuance. 
The eagerness of the interior population to possess the alluring articles 
of merchandize offered, tempted them to sell their slaves, while the 
enormous profits on their sale, in the cities along the Mediterranean, 



12 The Slave Trade. 

caused the Moorish traders to refuse to receive anything in exchange 
for their goods but slaves. 

On the western coast of Africa, as briefly detailed in our former 
lecture, the slave trade was commenced by the Portuguese. For a 
long series of years the supply was obtained by forcibly seizing the 
natives, and confining them on board their vessels, until a sufficient 
number for a cargo were obtained. This practice, though inconsid- 
erable at its commencement, became general, says Rees' Cyclopaedia, 
and was prosecuted by Portuguese, Sj)aniards, French, English, 
Dutch, &c. The wretched inhabitants were thus driven from the 
coast and compelled to take refuge in the interior. But the Euro- 
peans still pursued them, entering their rivers, and thus penetrating 
the heart of the country. The increased demand for slaves, how- 
ever, soon became so great as to require a less precarious mode of 
securing a supply. Accordingly, forts and factories were established, 
merchairdize landed, and endeavors made, by a peaceable deportment, 
by presents, and by every appearance of munificence, to allure the 
attachment and confidence of the Africans. 

These traffickers were not long in discovering the chiefs or kings 
nf the African tribes, and making treaties of peace and commerce, by 
which it was agreed that prisoners of war and convicts for crimes 
should be sentenced to European servitude ; and that the Europeans 
should, in return, supply the kings with the luxuries of the north. 
These treaties were immediately carried into effect, and the terrible 
consequences which might have been anticipated were soon developed. 
Indeed, there can be no doubt but that the results were foreseen by 
the traders, and this scheme of extending their operations, seemingly 
under the sanctions of justice, was throwrt before the world, in this 
plausible form, to prevent the indignant frown of public sentiment 
fi-om prohibiting the further prosecution of the traffic in slaves. 

The number of persons convicted of crimes, fell so far short of the 
wants of the slave traders, that other means had to be adopted to aug- 
ment their numbers. Not only those fairly convicted of crime were 
now sentenced to slavery, but even those who were suspected; and 
with regard to prisoners of war, they delivered into slavery, not only 
those who were taken in a state of public enmity and injustice, but' 
those also who were taken in the arbitrary skirmishes of the venal 
sovereigns of Africa. Wars were made among the tribes near the 
coast, not as formerly, from motives of retaliation and defense, or 
from love of conquest, but for the sake of obtaining prisoners alone, 
and the advantages resulting from the sale of them. When a Euro- 
pean ship came in sight, this was considered as a motive for war, and 
a signal for the commencement of hostilities. The despotic sove- 
reigns of Africa, influenced by the venal motives of European traffic, 
first made war upon the neighboring tribes in the violation of every 
principle of justice ; and if they did not thus succeed in their main 
object, they turned, their arms against their own subjects. The first 
villages at which they arrived were immediately surrounded, and 
afterward set on fire; and the wretched inhabitants seized, as they 
were escaping from the flames. 



The Slave Trade. 23 

In a few years the traffic in slaves became systematized, and the 
residents remaining along the coast became the regular agents between 
the slave merchants and the tribes in the interior, who were better 
able to procure slaves to send to the ports where they were in de- 
mand. The slave trade was thus gradually extended from the Atlantic 
and Pacific coasts into the interior, by Europeans, as it had been from 
the Mediterranean by the Moors, and it has been no uncommon 
occurrence for the slaves sold to the traders on the Atlantic coast, to 
have been brought from the interior a distance of 700 miles. 

The influence of this horrible traffic upon Africa was most perni- 
cious. Deplorable as was the social condition of her people, inde- 
pendent of the slave trade, it would seem, at first view, to have been 
rendered infinitely worse by it. 

On this occasion, however, time will not allow us to present the 
wide range of facts which we have been able to collect upon this 
branch of our subject. At present we can only remark, that from the 
testimony of many witnesses — embracing travelers in Africa, and 
missionaries, and colonists — it appears that the slave trade, besides 
vastly aggravating some of the social evils previously existing, and 
greatly multiplying the causes of war among the different tribes, lias 
exerted a paralyzing effect upon the little agricultural industry which 
previously existed ; and that there is less of social happiness and less 
of personal enjoyment in the districts where the traffic prevails,, than 
in the interior where its influence has not so fully reached ; and fur- 
ther, that the king of Dahomey is at present largely engaged in sup- 
plying the slave traders with slaves, amounting to the number of 
30,000 annually, to obtain which he makes annual slave hunts, tlic 
dangers of which he himself shares. 

One case only we shall present, and of recent occurrence, to afford 
an idea of the cruelties practised at the depots for slaves on the co?st, 
where they are collected for transportation ; and to present a well- 
attested account of the horrible atrocities to which the slave trade 
leads those who are enlisted in it. 

In July, 1842, Rev, J. L. Wilson visited a slave factory on the 
Gaboon, to inspect its condition. On his arrival at the gate of the 
barracoon, which was an enclosure of more than an acre, the slaves 
were talking and laughing cheerfully, but the moment the gate opened, 
the most profound silence ensued, and they became terrified, suppos- 
ing that a victim was to be selected to be eaten. Among the slaves 
were persons of both sexes, from five to forty years of age, not one 
of the number having any covering. Most of the men were fastened 
two and two, one ankle of each being fettered. The women, girls, 
and half-grown boys were made secure by a brass ring encircling the 
neck, tlirough which a chain passed, grouping them together in com- 
panies of forty or fifty each. Boys and girls under ten years of age 
were left unshackled. The poor w*retches had to sleep on bamboo 
platforms arranged round the building, without any covering to protect 
them from the cold and the musquitoes, both of which were intolera- 
ble to persons in their situation at that season of the year. 

" But there was one company which particularly arrested my 



24 The Slave Trade. 

attention — affected my heart. It was made up of motliers who had 
recently been bereft of iheir children. How they came to be chained 
together, I cannot tell, unless their keepers, yielding to what they 
considered an innocent and harmless desire, allowed them to be drawn 
togelher by their sympathies and sorrows. 

"Their owner knew, perhaps, what had become of their children, 
but he was unaffected by the reminiscence. Not so with them. 
Their countenances indicated an intensity of anguish that cannot be 
described. Though heathen mothers, a flame had been kindled in 
their hearts which no calamity could extinguish. 

" When infants are born in the barracoon, or when they are brought 
there with their mothers — because it is inconvenient to keep them in 
the factory, and almost impossible to carry them across the ocean — 
tliey are subjected to a premature and violent death. I speak 
advisedly, when I affirm, that this is a common occurrence in the ope- 
rations of the slave trade ; and it was in this way, I was credibly 
informed, that these sorrowing females had been sundered from their 
offspring. « * * I left the barracoon with my curiosity amply 
satisfied, and with emotions which will never allow me to visit 
another." 

The horrors of the middle passage, as the transportation of the 
slaves from the ports in Africa, to the countries where they are sold, 
is called, are so well known to every reading man, that I shall only 
present one instance of the revelations made by the capture of a 
slaver, with the view of affording an idea of the capacity of our Libe- 
ria colony to receive and provide for emigrants who may land upon 
its territory. 

The Pons, a slave ship on the coast of Africa, was captured by an 
American vessel, in December, 1845, and her cargo of slaves landed 
at Monrovia, and provided for by the Liberians. She had eight hun- 
dred and sixty-six slaves on board, eighteen of whom died during the 
night after the capture. The vessel had no slave decks, and these 
poor wretches were almost literally piled in bulk on the water casks 
below. As the ship appeared to be less than three hundred tons, it 
seemed impossible that one-half could have lived to cross the Atlantic. 
Forty -five or fifty of the number were females, who were confined in 
the round-house cabin on deck. Notwithstanding this crowded state 
of the vessel, it had been the intention of the captain to take on board 
an additional four hundred slaves. The stench from below was so 
great, says Capt. Bell, that it was impossible to stand more than a few 
moments near the hatchways. The men who went below from ouri- 
osity, were forced up sick in a few minutes, when all the hatcnes 
were off. What must have been the sufferings of these poor slaves 
when the hatches were closed? "I am informed," says Capt. Bell, 
" that very often, in these cases, the stronger will strangle the weaker ; 
and that this was probably the reason so many died, or rather were 
found dead, on the morning after the capture. None but an eye wit- 
ness can form a conception of the horrors these poor creatures endure 
in their transit across the ocean." 

The vessel was fourteen days in reaching Monrovia, during which 



The Slave Trade. 25 

time one hundred and fifty died. " When they were landed," says 
the Liberia Herald, " nearly the whole population collected on the 
beach to witness the sight. The colonists, with the exception of a 
very few, had never witnessed such a spectacle before. The slaves 
were nuich emaciated, and so debilitated that many of them found 
difficulty in getting out of the boats. Such a spectacle of misery and 
wretchedness, inflicted by a lawless and ferocious cupidity, so ex- 
cited our people that it became unsafe for the captain of the slaver, 
who had come to look on, to remain at the beach. Eight slaves 
died in the harbor the day before they were landed. The prize 
master says, as soon as a slave became helpless through debility or 
sickness, those nearest would throttle him, in order that his body 
removed, they would have more room. They were all, men and 
women, with the exception of two or three called headmen, landed 
in a state of perfect nudity ! " 

Dr. Lugenbeel, the United States' agent, immediately put them all 
out among the people of Liberia as apprentices. The Methodist 
mission took charge of eighty boys and twenty girls. The education 
of many of them has been progressing well, and a number of them 
are at present, 1849, members of the church, and rejoicing in the 
faith of the gospel. Oh what a kind Providence to turn the ciiptivily 
of these poor creatures into a blessing of inestimable value ! 

Since the employment of a naval force on the coast for the capture 
of slavers, many expedients are adopted by the heartless villians en- 
gaged in the slave trade to escape detection. One instance only 
need be noticed to give a true idea of the recklessness of life which 
prevails. In 1830, Captain Homans, having taken on board six 
hundred slaves, on the coast of Africa, set sail for Cuba, found him- 
self about being surrounded by four cruizers who had watched his 
movements. Favored by the darkness of the night, which soon set 
in, he extended a heavy chain cable around his vessel outside the 
railing, with a ponderous anchor attached, and bringing his slaves one 
by one on deck, by means of their handcufls of iron he fastened 
them to the cable. The penwork of the hold and every thing that 
could create suspicion, was also brought on deck, bound in matting 
well filled with shot, and thrown overboard. The cable, by a single 
blow of ihe axe, was then cut loose, a heavy plunge was heard as the 
anchor reached the water, and a crash as ihe cable fell oft' the side, 
abive which arose one terrible shriek — it was the last cry of the 
murdered Africans. One moment more, and all was still. Six hun- 
dred human beings had gone down with that anchor and chain into 
the depths of the ocean. Two hours after daylight the captain was 
overhauled. There was no evidence that his vessel was a slaver, 
and her captors were obliged to let her pass. 

We have said that the slave trade did not originate the degradation 
into which Africa has been sunk, but that, though it aggravated many 
existing evils, and introduced some new elements of woe, by arousing 
the cupidity of the inhabitants, yet it was itself onli/ a legitimate f nut 
of the social and moral degradation previously existing on that 
continent. Listen to the reasons upon which we base our opinion. 



26' The Slave Trade. 

Africa, sunk in the gloom of the darkest superstitions known tc 
the world, and neglecting all that industry which creates a surplus 
of products to constitute the elements of a legitimate commerce, 
and whicli secures to nations those comforts and luxuries not pro- 
duced in their own latitudes ; when an intercourse with civilized 
countries was opened up, liad not an adequate supply of agricultural 
fruits, or mineral wealth, to exchange for the European commodities 
of Avhich she found herself in want. This neglect of necessary labor 
on her own soil, which was so well adapted to yield abundaudy the 
tropical products then beginning to be in demand in civilized coun- 
tries, left her but one resource to secure the articles she desired — 
and that resource tvas the selling of human flesh I Alas, for poor 
Africa! Human flesh was the only commodity which she could 
supply, in sufficient quantity, to the commerce of the world. No 
proposition is more susceptible of demonstradon than this, that the 
slave trade is a legitimate fruit of Jlfrica's degradation. Had 
she not rejected the gospel which once blessed her, and, as a neces- 
sary consequence, lost her industry and sunk into barbarism, she 
would not have been under the necessity of selling her children, nor 
would it have been possible to have persuaded her to adopt a measure 
so unnatural, so cruel, so inhuman, so infernal, and fraught with such 
a deluge of woe. And there is but one way of suppressing the evils 
under which Africa groans, and that is, to restore to her that blessed 
gospel which she rejected, and that industry which she lost; and 
then, the causes creating the slave trade being removed, that traf- 
fic itself must necessarily be annihilated, and Africa permanenUy 
redeemed. 

Had time allowed the presentation of all the testimony collected 
in reference to the modifications produced upon the social and moral 
condition of Africa by the slave trade, the picture, though dark 
indeed, would have been faint when compared with the sad reality, 
and limited when contrasted with the vast extent of that traffic and 
the agonizing sufl^erings which are its attendants. The slave trade, 
it will be perceived, had no tendency to check or suppress the 
domestic slavery of Africa, but made its perpetuation of greater im- 
portance as furnishing a principal means of keeping up die traffic 
with the slave trader. It has done nothing to break down the idola- 
try, the devil-worship, the witchcraft, the tyranny, and cruelties of 
Africa, which have deeply degraded her, l)ut has left these all un- 
clianged. The tropical cultivation employing slave labor, makes a 
demand upon Africa chiefly for males, and thus the slave trade, 
leaving an excess of females in that country, has, no doubt, increased 
polygamy, and the miseries growing out of tliat social evil. The 
slave trade did not originate the sanguinary wars of the powerful 
kings of the interior, who, actuated by ambiiion of conquest, or love 
of plunder, laid waste the weaker nations that surrounded them. 
strewing the earth with their corpses, that they might decorate their 
rude halls with skulls; but it has greaUy multiplied the petty feuds 
of smaller tribes and led the larger ones to make regular slave hunts, 
to supply the increasing demand for slave labor. An<l though the 



Religious Vieivs of the Pilgrims. 27 

slave trade, by awakening the passion of avarice into a predominance 
over that of superstition, may have limited tlie number of human 
sacrifices, it was but to prolong a life that it might be subjected to 
all the vicissitudes of foreign slavery. 

And tlius, while the social and moral condition of Africa, inde- 
pendent of the slave trade, was truly deplorable, and sufficient to 
rouse to action every man whose heart can sympathize with human 
sulFering, the slave trade rendered its condition still more dismal, 
making the call upon the Christian world for relief still more urgent. 

III. The relation which the slavery of the United Stales bears to 
tiie recovery of Africa from Barbarism. 

No great movements of mankind, either vohmtary or compulsory, 
uprooting the population of one country and transplanting it into 
another, have ever occurred without producing important results, for 
good or for ill, to the people transferred and to the world. The 
removal to North America of porlions of the ])opulations of Europe 
and Africa — the first vohmtary, and the second compulsory — the one 
the most enlightened and upright of the human family, and the other 
the most ignorant and debased — the extremes of humanity — and 
their coalescence, upim our soil, in the relation of master and slave, 
was one of those strange and incomprehensible events, the design 
of which cannot be fathomed by any depth of human wisdom and 
foresight, but can only be understood when time has wrought out 
its ultimate results. 

Our first selders from Europe were the advocates of a Free Chris- 
tianity, who had been exiled by an intolerant zeal for religious 
uniformity, and forced to flee from persecution to a land where they 
could obtain equal rights and liberty of conscience. No sooner had 
they become fairly seated in their wilderness homes, than they began 
to afiord examples of the practical tendencies of their religious faith, 
by attempting the education and conversion of the native Indians! 
The substance of their religious belief, so far as it had a controlling 
influence in modeling their course of policy, may be thus stated. 

They believed that man was originally created a pure and holy 
being, and in the possession of an extent of happiness that was only 
limited by his capacity for enjoyment; but that by an act of disobe- 
dience he lost his original purity of character, and involved himself 
and all his posterity in moral ruin, and thus the whole race fell 
under the condemnation of the law of God. They believed, that 
all the ignorance, suffering, injustice, and oppression existing in the 
world are a necessary consequence of the depravity of men's hearts; 
and that these evils must coniinue until mankind are brought back to 
their allegiance to God, and the rebel receives pardon and is released 
from the curse of the divine law. They believed, that notwithstand- 
ing man's transgression, "God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish 
but have everlasting life;" and that the Lord Jesus Christ, as the 
substitute for sinners, by his obedience, sufferings, and death, having 



28 Relations of American Slavery 

satisfied the demands of divine justice and made an atonement tor 
sin, thus secured pardon, justification, and eternal life, for all who 
should believe in his name : but that those who believed not, must 
forever continue under condemnation and wrath. They believed 
that human misery would disappear from earth, in the proportion 
that men could be persuaded to embrace the religion of Christ, and 
to conform their conduct to the teachings of his gospel ; and tliat as 
soon as the whole world could be brought under the influence of that 
gospel, Humanity would dry up her tears and peace and joy become 
universal. They believed that the command of the Saviour to his 
disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every 
creature," is as fully binding upon believers in after ages, as it was 
upon those to whom it was at first delivered, and that the conse- 
quences which he declared should attend that preaching — "He that 
believeth and is baptized, shall be saved, and he that believeth not 
shall be damned" — will continue to accompany it to the latest 
generations of men ; and that, therefore, the responsibility of spread- 
ing the gospel as fully rests upon all believers, in all time, so far as 
their circumstances, pecuniary abilities, opportunities, talents, and 
spiritual gifts will allow, as it did upon Paul, when, in view of the 
sinfuhiess of men and their liability to wrath, he exclaimed, "for 
necessity is laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the 
gospel." 

Entertaining such views of their responsibilities to God and to 
man, the desire to promote the temporal and eternal interests of 
their posterity, and of tlie world, became a ruling principle of action 
with the first emigrants to New England. They commenced their 
labors on such a scale as tlieir circumstances permitted, and in a 
few years mastered the language of the Indians, established schools 
for their education, and translated and printed the Bible in the native 
tongue, thus enabling the savage of the forest to read the words of 
eternal life. Such was the spirit of the Pilgrims, and such the 
origin, in this country, of that Christian philanthropy which includes 
within its embrace the whole human family, and is now exerting its 
energies to give the gospel to the whole heathen world. 

The first of our supply of the population of Africa, dragged from 
their homes by the promptings of avarice, to gratify an unhallowed 
commercial cupidity, were landed in the colony of Virginia in 1620, 
the same year in which the Puritan Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. 
This is a remarkable coincidence. The first advocates of a Free 
Christianity, and the first African slaves who touched our coast were 
landed in the same year. 

In thus bringing together darkness and light — in mingling the 
lowest form of Pagan ignorance and depravity with the highest 
development of Christian intelligence and integrity — it would seem 
that Divine Providence designed to demonstrate to the world the 
capability of a Free Christianity to transform the grofisest material 
of hmnani'y into the most refined, and thus to prove the unity 
and natural equality of the human race. 

Our investigations under this head have been directed, though but 



To African Civilization. 29 

incidentally, to the facts connected with the solution of this great 
problem— //ic sKfficiency of a pure Christianity to restore to man 
his lost happiness — with the view, principally, of pointing out the 
relation which the slavery of the United States bears to the recovery 
ot Africa from barbarism. 

'J'he best authorities make the number of slaves exported from 
Africa, up to 1847, about seven millions eight hundred and forty-five 
thousand. Great as this number appears, the estimate is no doubt 
within the actual number of the victims of the slave trade. And 
then, to have a proper conception of the extent of the sufferings 
following in the train of this traffic, it must be remembered, that the 
number of lives lost in Africa during the wars for the capture 
of slaves and their transportation to the coast, equals the number 
exported, making her entire loss fifteen millions six hundred and 
ninety thousand human beings. This statement will give a just 
conception of the extent to which Africa has been robbed of her 
children. To obtain the facts which we need in our discussion, our 
plan has been to follow the more prominent lines along which the 
slave trade has borne the population of Africa, and ascertain what 
results have followed, in the several countries to which the African 
people have been taken, with the view of determining the intellectual 
and moral progress they may have made, and the present qualifi- 
cations of each group to act as pioneers in the work of Africa's 
redemption. 

Passing by, for the present, those transported to the British West 
Indies, to Brazil, to Cuba and to Mexico, we find that those im- 
ported into the colonies now composing the United States, were 
very difierently situated from each otlier and from their brethren 
left behind in the pagan darkness of Africa. A part of them fell 
into the hands of men, not so scrupulous, perhaps, as others of tlie 
colonists, on the subject of equal rights, but who, to say the least, 
were so far under the influence of Christian principle, that they 
deemed it an imperative duty to teach their households to read the 
Bible, and to instruct them in the principles of the Christian religion. 
The term household, according to their interpretation, included 
slaves. At tliat day apprentices were not masters in the shops 
where they learned trades, nor students sovereigns in colleges to 
which they were sent to be educated. The judgment of age was 
respected, because the experience of years was supposed to impart 
wisdom. Implicit obedience to those in authority, wliether parents, 
teachers, masters or magistrates, was demanded and yielded; and 
the consequence was, that while education enlightened the mind, and 
religious instruction moulded the heart, a generation of men were 
ushered upon the stage of action, with a love of order and submission 
lo law, as unalterable as was their hostility to despotism, and their 
determination to secure to themselves tlie rights of conscience, and 
the blessings of civil liberty — of liberty under the restraints of law. 
But while they rigidly held tlie doctrine of the natural equality of 
the Innnan race, they as unchangeably believed that only men 
of intelligence and moral inlegiity are capable of self-government 



30 P.elations of Amrrican Slavery 

The scliool house and the cliurch, the sources of intelligence and 
morality, with them were objects of the first importance, because the 
perpetuity of the free institutions they were founding wouKI depend, 
they believed, not upon any magic in the mere possession of freedom, 
but in the intelligence and moral principle of their posterity. While, 
therefore, they labored for the intellectual and moral elevation of the 
Indian and the African, they refused to admit them to the privileges 
of citizenship. No morbid sentimentality upon the subject of equal 
rights could induce them to forget the peril into which they would 
cast the precious jewel of the elective franchise, by conferring it 
upon savage or half-civilized men, necessarily destitute of the ability 
through ignorance, of making a discreet use of the privilege. While, 
then, they believed the savage man to be equal, by nature, with the 
civilized man, and that, by education, he could be made his equal, 
also, intellectually and morally, until thus educated and capable 
of being controlled by moral principle, they would have conceived it 
to be madness to make the savage man the equal partner in com- 
mercial business with the civilized man, and much less would they 
have considered it a measure of safety to make him the equal in tlie 
administration of government. 

It was into the midst of such men as these, though contrary to the 
principles and wishes of the majority, and in opposition to their 
remonstrances and legislative enactments, that Enuland forced the 
population of Africa. And, as if by an instinctive forecast, despotism 
seems to have anticipated the elfects, on this continent, of a Free 
Christianity, generating independence of thought, and demanding for 
men equal riglits and liberty of conscience, and sought, by casting in 
a mass of ignorance from Africa, to retard if not to prevent the full 
development of these great principles. This disposition was clearly 
indicated by the English statesman, wlio declared, as a sufficient rea- 
son for turning a deaf ear to the remonstrances of the Colonists against 
the further importation of slaves, that " Negroes cannot become 
Republicans — they will be a power in our hands to restrain the unruly 
Colonists." 

That such motives prompted England to prosecute the introduction 
of slaves into the colonies with great activity, was fully believed by 
the American statesmen of the Revolution, and their views were thus 
energetically expressed, by Mr. Jelferson, in the first draft of the 
Declaration of Independence, but which was afterward omitted : 

"He (the king of Great Britain) has waged cruel war against 
human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty 
in the persons of a distant people who never ofl'cndcd him, captivating 
and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur 
miserable death in their transportation thither. 'I'his piratical war- 
fare, the opprobium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian 
king of Britain. Determined to keep open a market where men 
should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for sup- 
pressing every legislative attempt to restrain this execrable commerce. 
And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distin- 
guished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms 



To Jifrican Civilizafion. 31 

among us, and purcliase that liberty of which he lias deprived them 
by murdering the people upon whom he has obtruded them : thus 
paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, 
by crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another." 

But that desire to impart the blessings of the gospel to their fellow- 
men, which had prompted tliat yet feeble colony to attempt the con- 
version of the Indians, could not but lead also to efforts for the elevation 
of the poor African slave. In accordance with this view, we find 
that the slaves were subjected, more or less, to the rules of their mas- 
ters' families, affording, to many of them, opportunities of iutellecliial 
and moral improvement, which soon began to elevate them in the 
scale of being from that of the lowest state of barbarism, which they 
had occupied in Africa, to one of approximate civilization. Pious 
ministers, also, being generally allowed free access to the slaves, 
obeyed the injunction to preach the gospel to every creature, and 
labored for their improvement and conversion. Tims nearly the 
whole mass of the victims of the slave trade, who were brought to 
the territory now forming the United States, were ultimately placed 
under circumstances which, afforded to them advantages of infinite 
value, and from which, to this day, they might have been excluded, 
had they not been brought from Africa, 

Many generations of men have been ushered into existence and 
disappeared again from the earth, while iJiese causes have been in 
operation. Of the number of thousands of colored men wlio have 
lived, during tliis period, embraced the gospel, and died in the hope of 
a blessed immortality, we can form no estimate. But the number of 
professors of religion of African descent, now living in the United 
States, may be estimated at nearly three hundred and fifty thousand. 
/ 'J'he Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, many years 
lince, commenced a systematic course of missionary labors amonc 
/the colored people, but designed principally for the slaves, Th"e 
Uleports of this Church, for 1849, show that a large number of mis- 
sionaries are employed in this field, and give twenty-eight thousand 
five hundred and eighty-nine colored persons as members at the North, 
and one hundred and thirly-seven thousand five hundred and twenty- 
eight at the South, We find it stated in a southern paper, that the 
number of colored members, in tlie slave States, belonging to the 
Baptist Church, is over one hundred and twenty-five tliousand. The 
Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Associate Reformed Presbyterians, 
in the South, have also long been engaged in the religious training 
of the slaves, and have received many of them into church member'- 
ship. At the present moment, the Sabbath schools of these seve- 
ral religious bodies are very extensive and very efficient, Tlie 
Cumberland Presbyterians, we understand, are not inattentive to the 
religioiis wants of tlie slave, but we are without statistics on the sub- 
ject of their operations. The number of colored members in the 
Baptist Church at the North is not known to us, but must amount to 
several hundreds. Our estimate of three lumdred and fifty thousand, 
as the whole of die colored memi)ers of churches in the United States, 
is, therefore, probably not above the true number. 



32 Relations of American Slavery 

But besides these pleasing results of the agencies accompanying 
slavery in this country, it must be added, that we have at present 
about four hundred and sixty ihousantt free persons of color, from 
whom the shackles of slavery have fallen, and many of whom possess 
an amount of intelligence which indicates, very plainly, that equal 
advantages only are needed to enable them to attain a high standard 
in all that adorns the character of the civilized and Christian man. 
And, in addition to all this, it must be noticed, that the whole colored 
population of the United States, which will number, in 1850, about 
three millions six hundred and ninety-seven thousand — though the 
standard of morality, with the larger part, is known to be very low — 
may be said to be freed from the degrading influences of Afiican 
superstition and idolatry, and thus made more accessible to the Chris- 
tian teacher. This result was greatly hastened by another most 
singular coincidence. Scarcely had the work of the religious train- 
ing of slaves been fairly undertaken, and its practicability determined, 
when the furdier influx of heathenism was prevented by the prohibi- 
tion of the slave trade, and the task of overeomiug their pagan super- 
stitions and idolatrous customs was thus more easily acconiplisiied. 

But this does not yet complete the catalogue of good results accom- 
panying the transportation of the population of Africa to this country. 
In addition to the blessings of Christianity secured to tliem, in con- 
nexion with slavery, their captivity among us seems to have been but 
a preparatory step toward the development of another of the results 
to be produced in permitting tiie cupidity of the Christian world to 
make merchandise of the sons of Africa; and that result is their lieing 
constituted a distinct people, a civilized, enlightened and powerful 
nation. The indications of this are unmistakeable. In the progress 
of intelligence among tlie Africans of the United States, that passion 
for equal rights and privileges which characterized those who laid the 
foundations of American Independence, was also infused into their 
breasts, animating them likewise with the love of liberty and the 
determination to secure to themselves and their children the blessings 
of free government. But being conscious of the secondary position 
which they must necessarily occupy in the social relations of this 
country ; and in view also of tlie important fact, tliat the respect and 
esteem of the world could not be secured to the colored race short of 
the demonstration of their capacity for self-government ; and knowing 
the impossibility of testing that point where such a preponderance 
of whites existed; and where, by the more rapid increase of the 
whites, by foreign immigrati(jn, the colored people must necessarily 
for ever consiitute a very small minority, and their influence scarcely 
be felt, excepting as their votes would be in demand during party con- 
tests : in view of these and other considerations, after the most mature 
delibiration, a few colored men were led, thirty years ago, to accept 
the proposition of making a noble and daring effort for nationality in 
Africa itself, where eighty millions of their brethren might be civil- 
ized and incorporated with them, thus creating a government whose 
numerical strength would be four-fold that of the one they would 
leave. 



To African Civilization. 33 

The encouraging success which has crowned this enterprize of the 
colored people, is well known, and proves as fully that it is of God, 
as that our own happy Republic was planted by the right hand of the 
Almighty, as a model to the world of the power of a free Christianity 
to promote human happiness. The Republic of Liberia, now num- 
bering within its limits one hundred thousand souls, is but a trans- 
planlment to Africa of American civilization, American views of the 
rights of man, and American principles in relation to the freedom of 
religion. These principles are already beginning to produce their 
ameliorating effects in Africa, and their power to elevate and ennoble 
mankind are becoming more and more manifest every day. It is a 
fact, now acknowledged in Europe and America, that the moral influ- 
ence already exerted by Liberia, has done more for the cause of 
humanity, in the suppression of the slave trade, and in the aboli- 
tion of slavery and the other evils afflicting Africa, than has been 
accomplished by the combined eftbrts of the civilized world. 

We have now traced the prominent results following the enslave- 
ment of the Africans in the United States, until we have seen the tide 
of emigration begin to flow back from our shores to Africa, bearing 
her children to her again, not as received from her, with minds dark- 
ened by heathenish superstitions, but, many of them, enlightened and 
christianized men, able to bless her and redeem her. The plan of 
our investigations leads us to follow the other lines of dispersion of 
the population of Africa ; to ascertain the results in other countries, 
with the view of determining the relation which the slavery of the 
United States bears to the recovery of Africa from ba|barism. 

We shall turn first to the British West Indies, and as Jamaica is 
the most prominent of these islands, and will best serve as a type of 
the whole, our inquiries will be chiefly confined to it. We have 
obtained our facts, principally, from the recenfly written history of 
Jamaica, by the Rev. J. M. Phillippo, for twenty years a Baptist 
missionary in that island. 

The Island of Jamaica, discovered in 1494, was setfled by a colony 
of Spaniards in 1509, who, by their oppressions and savage cruelties, 
in less than fifty years, wholly exterminated the native population, 
originally numbering from eighty thousand to one hundred thousand. 
African slaves seem to have been introduced at an early day as sub- 
stitutes for the natives, and up to 1655, when the English, then at 
war with Spain, took possession of the island, forty thousand slaves 
had been imported by the Spaniards, only fifteen hundred of whom 
w^ere then surviving. Jamaica, by this change of masters, was not 
much improved in its social and moral condition, which, under the 
one hundred and forty-six years of Spanish rule, had been deplorable. 
It now became the rendezvous of buccaneers and piratical crusaders, 
a desperate band of men from all the maritime powers of Europe, 
who continued to perpetrate almost every degree of wickedness, both 
on sea and land, until 1670, when peace was made with Spain, and a 
more vigorous administration of law attempted. Twenty-six years 
after England conquered the island, 1696, up to which period the 
importation of slaves was still continued, the whites numbered fifteen 



34 Relations of American Slavery 

thousand one hundred and ninety-eight, and the slaves nine thousand 
five hundred. At the end of an additional forty-six years, 17-12, du- 
ring nearly ihe whole of which time the monopoly of the slave trade 
was held by England, the whites numbered fourteen thousand, and ihe 
slaves one hundred thousand. The annual importation of slaves into 
Jamaica now reached sixteen thousand, so that, at the end of another 
twenty-eight years, they numbered two hundred thousand, while the 
whites had scarcely increased two thousand. These numbers show, 
that from 1742 till 1770, a period of twenty-eight years, tlie niiinber 
of slaves who sunk, under the lash of the Jamaica task-master, must 
have been two hundred and forty-eight thousand, or almost nine 
thousand annually. The whole number of slaves imported by the 
English, up to 1808, when the slave trade was forbidden by Parlia- 
ment, was eight hundred and fifty thousand, to which must be added 
the forty thousand imported by the Spaniards, making the total num- 
ber of tlie population of Africa, transported to Jamaica, amount to 
eight hundred and ninety thousand men. And yet, the startling truth 
must be told, that when the census of the slave population of this 
island was ordered by government, in 1835, under the emancipation 
act, instead of an increase on the numbers imported, they amounted 
to only three hundred and eleven thousand six hundred and ninety-two. 

It will be an easy task for any person of ordinary intelligence, to 
picture to himself the stale of morals and the social condition of tlie 
white inhabitants of Jamaica, during the several periods of its history 
to which we have referred ; and ■what must have been the reflex 
influence of such a population upon the poor ignorant savages from 
Africa. To say that the moral character of the m hites of Jamaica 
was the extreme reverse of that of the early setders of the United 
[Stales, would, perhaps, be stricdy true. On this point, however, we 
shall not dwell. Our object is to see what were the results to the 
Africans introduced into that island, that their progress, intellectually 
and morally, may be contrasted with that of the colored population 
of the United States, that we may learn their qualifications to give to 
Africa a Christian civilization. 

On this point we are not left to conjecture. The Rev. Mr. Phil- 
lippo is very full upon the subject of their social and moral condition, 
and the facts stated by him in his history, before referred to, are con- 
firmed by the missionary history of the island. He represents the 
slaves as having retained, in full practice, all the gross and debasing 
superstitions which were capable of being transferred from Africa, 
and that "upward of one hundred years after Jamaica became an 
appendage of the British crown, scarcely an effort had been made to 
instruct the slaves in the great doctrines and duties of Christianity; 
and although, in 1696, at the instance of the mother country, an act 
was passed by the local legislature, directing that all slave owners 
should instruct iheir negroes, and have them baptised, 'when fit for 
it,' it is evident, from the very terms in which the act was expressed, 
that it w^as designed to be, as it afterward proved, a dead letter — a 
mere political maneuver, intended to prevent the parent state from 
interfering in the management of the slaves." 



To Jifrican Civilization. 35 

From this time to 1770, a period of seventy-four years, the 
question of slave instriu-tioii lay dead in Jamaica, when Parliament 
put certain questions to iMr. Wedderburn as to the actual state of the 
religious instruction of slaves in the Island. He replied, "There 
are a few properties on which there are Moravian parsons ; but in 
general there is no religious instruction." The same testimony was 
borne at the same time by Mr. Fuller, Agent of Jamaica, and two 
others, who, when asked, " What religious instructions are there for 
the negro slaves," answered, " We know of none such in Jamaica." 

The Rev, Dr. Coke, who was sent out on a missionary exploration 
in 1787, says, " When I first landed in Jamaica, the form of Godli- 
ness was hardly visible ; and its power, except in some few solitary 
instances, was totally unknown. Iniquity prevailed in all its forms. 
Both whites and blacks, to the number of between three hundred 
thousand and four hundred thousand, were evidently living without 
hope and without God in the world. The language of the Aposde 
seems strikingly descriptive of their entire depravity: "There is 
none righteous, no, not one ; tliere is none that understandeth, there 
is none that seeketh after God. 'I'heir throats are an open sepulcher; 
with their tongue they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under 
their lips; their feet are swift to shed blood, and the way of peace 
they have not known." 

In 1796, Mr. Edwards, the historian of the West Indies, in his 
place in the House of Commons, when speaking of sending mission- 
aries to a certain point in Jamaica, said, " I speak from my own 
knowledge when I say, that they are cannibals, and that instead of 
listening to a missionary, lliey would certainly eat him." 

But this must complete our testimony of the effects of slavery upon 
its subjects in Jamaica. Mr. Philippo sliows very conclusively, 
that the colored population of Jamaica, up to a very recent period, 
were elevated scarcely a jot above the natives of Africa. They had 
brought with them from AlVica nearly all its gross and debasing 
superstitions, and all its social moral evils, making their new homes 
in Jamaica almost a /«c-stmi7e of those from which they had been 
torn in Africa. 

One additional fact, however, must not be overlooked; and that is, 
that this fearful moral degradation of the slaves of Jamaica, and 
their total destitution of all the means of religious ins/ruction, did 
not render them peaceful and contented, and secure the safety of tlieir 
masters. This is abundantly proved in the fact, that during the 
period in which the Island was held by England, nearly thirty insur- 
rections of the slaves took place. Tliis fact, when contrasted with 
the comparatively few attempts at insurrection which have taken 
place in the United Slates, where religions instruction among the 
slaves has been common, should teach the slaveholder, that the 
perpetuation of the ignorance and degradation of the slaves, is no 
safeguard against servile insurrections, but that the teachings of 
Christianity, while it opens up the way of eternal life to the slave, 
and prepares him to take upon himself the duties of a freeman, do 
not necessarily endanger the safety of the master. 



36 delations of American Slavery 

We have already stated the fact, that commerce is incapable of 
civilizing savage men. In the history of Jamaii^a, we have still 
more positive evidence that slavery is equally powerless in the 
promotion of civilization, and that it can only be considered as a 
link in the chain of events wliich may bring savage tribes into the 
midst of a civilized people, but that the civilization of savages, under 
such circumstances, is no more a necessary result of slavery, than 
it is of their imprisonment in the slave ship that transported them 
across the ocean, or the manacles that bound them during the voyage. 
Let us look at the facts. The English conquered the Island in 1665. 
The last testimony on the subject of the want of religious instruction 
for the slaves, dates in 1796, The Island, therefore, had been under 
British rule for a period of one hundred and forty years. If, then, 
slavery could elevate, and improve, and civilize its victims, surely 
there was time enough for it to have produced these fruits in the one 
hundred and forty years of British rule in Jamaica. But no such 
fruits had been borne. The slaves were still savage. Now, to these 
one hundred and forty years must be added at least twenty more of 
British rule, because missionary operations, introducing tlie Gospel, 
were not actively commenced until twenty years after this period. 
But if longer time is claimed, then add the one hundred and forty-six 
years during which the Island was under the Spaniards, to the one 
hundred and sixty under the British, and we have three hundred 
years of absolute slavery in Jamaica, and yet the slaves made no 
advancement in the scale of moral being beyond the condition in 
which they had been originally found in Africa. The results of 
African slavery in Jamaica, at the end of these three hundred years, is 
thus graphically described by Mr. Phillippo, " It may be emphatically 
said, that darkness covered the land, and gross darkness the people. 
And if one ray of light glimmered in its midst, it only served to render 
the surrounding darkness still more visible — more clearly to exhibit 
the hideous abominations beneatli which the Island groaned." 

This particular reference has been made to this point, because of the 
fact, that many have a vague, indefinite, ill-defined notion, that the 
great good which has resulted to the slaves of the United States, in 
connection with slavery, is a fruit of slavery. And should it still 
be claimed, that the moral elevation attained by the African race in 
the United States, is a necessary fruit of slavery, with equal pro- 
priety it can be urged, that the moral degradation of the slaves of 
Jamaica, for the three hundred years preceding the beginning of the 
present century, was also due to slavery. Both these propositions 
cannot be true. The fact is, thai they are untrue in both cases. 
That the intellectual and moral elevation of the slaves of the United 
States is not due to slavery, is amply proved by the fact, ihat the 
least advancement has been made by them ichere slavery exists in 
its greatest strength, and ivhere the Christian teacher has been the 
most carefully shut out from them. And so far as Jamaica is con- 
cerned, it is true, beyond all doubt, that its slavery did not degrade 
its African population into savages. It found them savages, but was 
wholly powerless for their moral elevation, as long as the only 



To African Cicilizafion. 37 

influences exerted over them were from a white population destitute 
of a Christian morality. 

But if slavery, of itself, be powerless in the moral elevation of its 
subjects, it does not necessarily prevent all moral improvement. The 
truth of this proposition is fully sustained by the results in both the 
United Stales and Jamaica. It is further proved by the effects 
following the introduction of Christianity into all the British West 
India Islands. The work of missions in Jamaica, as well as in the 
other Islands, met with the most rancorous opposition from the 
planters, who viewed the religious instruction of the slaves as "in- 
compatible with the existence of slavery." The mission work, 
though begun in Jamaica, by the Baptists, in 1813, and by the 
Methodists, under Dr. Coke, in 1789, and again in 1815 — made but 
litde progress, being resolutely opposed, until about 1820. In 1824, 
the Moravians, who had commenced in 1754, had four stations and 
four missionaries ; the Wesleyan Methodists eight stations and eight 
missionaries ; and the Baptists five stations and five missionaries. 

Here then, are the dates of the commencement of regular religious 
instruction in Jamaica. Though overawed by the mother country, 
the planters still manifested bitter hostility to the religious instruction 
of the slaves, and in 1832, on a partial insurrection of the Blacks, 
their wrath overflowing all bounds, they destroyed fourteen chapels, 
with private houses and other property, belonging to the Baptists, 
amounting in value to $115,250, and six chapels, belonging to the 
Methodists, and property worth $30,000. Every species of cruelty 
and insult were inflicted upon the missionaries. The emancipation 
act of the next year, 1833, for ever put it out of the power of the 
planters to repeat such acts of injustice and violence, and the mis- 
sionary work, uninterrupted, has been eminently successful. In 
1842, says the Rev. Mr. Phillippo, the whole number of converts in 
Jamaica was one hundred thousand, out of a population of near half 
a million ; the number of regular places of worship were two hun- 
dred and twenty-six, and the out stations swelling them to three 
hundred ; while the number of missionaries were over one hundred 
and seventy, with nearly an equal number of native assistants. Thus 
stood the question of the religious instruction of the African popula- 
tion of the Island in 1842. Superstitions and immoralities were fast 
disappearing under the influence of the gospel, and the marriage 
relation was respected. But the fewness of the missionaiies and teach- 
ers, in proportion to the population, rendering it impracticable to bring 
all under a course of instruction, makes the progress slower than is de- 
sirable, and leaves many portions of the Island still sunk in ignorance. 

Previous to the year 1823, there were not more than one or two 
schools for the colored people on the whole Island. In 1824, the 
whole number of missionaries was seventeen, in a slave population 
of three hundred and eleven thousand, and a free colored population 
of forty thousand. Here, then, were the educational agencies of 
Jamaica, twenty-five years ago — not over nineteen missionaries and 
teachers to a population of three hundred and fifty-one thousand 
souls, or only one to each eighteen thousand four hundred. 
7 



38 Relations of American Slavery 

In this brief outline of the history of Jamaica, ample evidence is 
furnished to show that slavery is powerless for good to its victims. 
It also proves, that a free Christianity can transform, and elevate, 
and civilize, even slaves. But, as a barbarous people cannot make 
much progress in a single generation, Jamaica, at present, can sr.pply 
little aid in the bestownient of a Christian civilization upon Africa. 
In relation to Cuba, the tale is soon told. According to McQueen, its 
slave population, some years ago, was four hundred and twenty-five 
thousand, of whom one hundred and fifty thousand were females, 
and two hundred and seventy-five th(»usand were males. This dis- 
proportion of the sexes will sufficiently indicate the social evils 
growing out of such a condition of things. Since that period, the 
slave trade has received a great stimulus, by the opening of the 
English markets to slave-grown sugar, and the continued importation 
of slaves into Cuba, gives her at present six hundred thousand. She 
has also one hundred thousand free colored persons, and six hundred 
and ten thousand whites. 

A report read before the London Anti-Slavery Society, 1843, 
represents the plantation slaves of Cuba as never receiving the least 
moral or religious instruction. " Most of them are baptized, because 
the curate's certificate of baptism serves as a tide deed in the civil 
courts of the Island. They live, in general, in a state of concubinage. 
They have not the most distant idea of Christianity. The annual 
decrease by deaths over births is, among the plantation slaves, from 
ten to twelve per cent., and among the others from four to six per 
cent. The births exceed the deaths among the free colored popula- 
tion, from five to six per cent. The hours of labor were from four, 
A. M. until ten, P. M., including eighteen hours of the twenty-four, 
with an allowance of an hour for dinner." 

An extract of a letter from an eyewitness in Cuba, which was 
addressed to Lord John Russell, and copied into Blackwood's Maga- 
zine, February, 1848, says, "It was crop time: the mills went 
round night and day. On every estate, (I scarcely hope to be 
believeii when I state the fact,) every slave was icorked wider the 
ivhip, eighteen hours of the fiventyfour, and in the boiling-houses, 
from five to six, P. M., and from eleven o'clock till midnight, when 
half the people were concluding their eighteen hours' work, the sound 
of the hellish lash was incessant; indeed it was necessary, to keep 
the overtasked wretches awake. The six hours which they rested, 
they spent locked in a barracoon — a strong, foul, close sty, where 
they wallowed without distinction of age or sex. While at work, the 
slaves were stimulated by drivers, armed with swords and whips, 
and protected by magnificent bloodhounds. There was no marry- 
ing among the plantation slaves. On many estates females were 
entirely excluded. It was cheaper and less troublesome to buy than 
to raise slaves." *»#***'' Religious instruction and 
medical aid were not carried out generally beyond baptism and 
vaccination." 

But a sense of propriety forbids that we should complete the quo- 
tation. Enough, truly, is given to show that the social and moral 



To African Civilization. 39 

condition of the slaves in Cuba is most deplorable. Nor have any- 
ameliorating agencies been introduced to work a change. In a 
careful inspection of the operations of English and American mis- 
sionary societies, we cannot find that any missionaries of a free 
Christianity have gained a foothold in Cuba. The exclusivene^^s 
of the estabHshed reUgion of Spain, which forbids freedom of religion, 
has, no doubt, been extended to her colony, and the poor African 
still toils beneath the lash of his merciless taskmaster, unconscious 
of his accountabiUty to God, and of the ofi'er of salvation through 
faith in the Saviour. 

After this picture of the results accompanying the enslavement of 
the Africans in Cuba, no one will look to that island for aid in tlie 
civilization of Africa, until the self-denying missionaries of a free 
Christianity, are permitted to labor therein, for the instruction and 
salvation of the poor slave. 

The slaves transported from Africa to Brazil have been subjected 
to influences as unfavorable to intellectu;il and moral improvement as 
those taken to any other country. Unfortunately for Brazil, a free 
Christianity was not secured to its early settlers from Europe, and the 
consequences have been deplorable. In accordance with the views 
and policy of the times, the most rigid and extreme measures were 
adopted to preserve unity of faiih. Two ministers and fourteen stu- 
dents, sent out to Brazil by the Protestant Church of Geneva, were 
prevented, by the sanguinary fanaticism of the atlherents of the estab- 
li.'^hed religion, from introducing a Bible Christianity. The leailing 
men of the party of Hueuenots, who fled to Brazil in 1555, from per- 
secution in France, were thrown into prison, and after eight years' 
confinement, John Boles, the most prominent of the prisoners, was 
martyred, at Rio de Janeiro, " for the sake of terrifying his country- 
men, if any of them should be lurking in those parts." The Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church of the United States, a few years since, 
attempted to enter into Brazil as a missionary field, but the eflort, 
proving unsuccessful, has been abandoned. 

Without the Bible as a moral instructor of youth, and without the , 
presence of the advocates of a free Christianity, as rivals to stimu- 
late and liberalize the state religion, it is not a matter of wonder 
that the Brazilians should have sunk in the scale of moral being. The 
rising generations, coming more or less under the influence of the 
native heatiienism, could not attain as high a standard of intelligence 
and morals as those which had preceded them. It was to be expected, 
therefore, that the costly church edifices, erected by the pious zeal 
and profuse liberality of the early Portuguese emigrants, should often 
be perverted from the use to which they were originally consecrated ; 
and, as is asserted in Kidder's Brazil, that the preaching of the gos- 
pel should not be known among the weekly services of the church ; 
and, also, as is declared by Southev, that its practices should be 
those of polytheism and idolatry. 

Details of the social and moral condition of the Brazilians is 
uncalled for on such an occasion as this. But, as connected with our 
investigations, we must be permitted to say, that such were the evil 



40 Relations of American Slavery 

tendencies of the religious system of Brazil, that, in 1843, the min- 
ister of justice and ecclesiastical affairs, addressed the Imperial 
Legislature as follows : 

" The state of retrogression into which our clergy are falling is 
notorious. The necessity of adopting measures to remedy such an 
evil is also evident. On the 9th of September, 1842, the government 
addressed inquiries on this subject to the bishops and capitular vicars. 
Although complete answers have not been received from all of them, 
yet the following particulars are certified : 

" The lack of priests who will dedicate themselves to the cure of 
souls, or who even offer themselves as candidates, is surprising. In 
the province of Para, there are parishes which, for twelve years and 
upward, have had no pnstor. The district of the river Negro, con- 
taining some fourteen settlements, has but one priest; while that of 
the river Solimoens is in similar circumstances. In the three comar- 
cas of Belem, and the Upper and the Lower Amazon, there are thirty- 
six vacant parishes. In Maranham, twenty-five churches have, at 
different times, been advertised as open for applications, without 
securing the ofier of a single candidate. 

"The bishop of St. Paulo afiirms the same thing respecting vacant 
churches in his diocese, and it is no uncommon experience elsewhere. 
In the diocese of Cuyaba, not a single church is provided with a 
settled curate, and those priests who officiate as stated supplies, 
treat the bishop's efforts to instruct and improve them with great 
indifference. 

" In the bishopric of Rio de Janeiro, most of the churches are sup- 
plied with pastors, but a great number of them only temporarily. 
This diocese embraces four provinces, but during nine years past not 
more than five or six priests have been ordained per year. 

" It may be observed, that the numerical ratio of those priests who 
die, or become incompetent through age and infirmity, is two to one 
of those who receive ordination. Even among those who are ordained, 
few devote themselves to pastoral work. They either turn theii 
attention to secular pursuits, as a means of securing greater conven- 
iences, emoluments, and respect, or they look out for chaplaincies, and 
other situations, which offer equal or superior inducements, without 
subjecting them to the literary tests, the trouble and the expense 
necessary to secure an ecclesiastical benefice. 

" This is not the place to investigate the causes of such a state of 
things, but certain it is, that no persons of standing devote their sons 
to the priesthood. Most of those wdio seek the sacred oflice are indi- 
gent persons, who, by their poverty, are often prevented from pursu- 
ing the requisite studies. Without doubt, a principal reason why so 
few devote themselves to ecclesiastical pursuits, is to be found in the 
small income allowed them. Moreover, the perquisites established 
as the remuneration of certain clerical services, have resumed the 
voluntary character which they had in primitive times, and the priest 
who attempts to coerce his parishioners into payment of them, almost 
always renders himself odious, and gels litde or nothing for his 
trouble." 



To African Civilization. 41 

After such a picture of the inefficiency of the established reh'gion 
of Brazil, and such evidences of its decay and want of sufficient vital 
energy to preserve it from extinction, it will excite no surprise to find 
the government, in 1836, proposing to employ Moravian missionaries 
to catechise the Indians of the interior. 

An American in Brazil, writing to the Boston Advocate from Rio, 
Sept., 1849, says : " Every one, on his first landing at Rio, will be 
forced to the conclusion that all classes indiscriminately mingle to- 
gether ; all appearing on terms of the utmost equality. " If there be 
any distinction, it is perceptible only between freedom and slavery. 
There are many blacks here quite wealthy and respectable, who amal- 
gamate with the white families, and are received on a footing of per- 
fect equality. The mechanical arts are at least half a century behind 
those of our own. The churches, some fifty in number, are falling 
to decay, which gives to the city a look of dilapidation ; few are still 
observant of its ceremonies; but little or no attention is paid to the 
Sabbath. The stores do business, and the workshops are open the 
same as on other days. A few maybe seen going to worship on the 
Sabbath, but a greater number resort to billiard tables in the afternoon, 
and to theaters at night. The slave population is estimated at three 
times the number of that of the whites. They are alloiced to go 
almost naked, the upper part of the body of both male and female 
entirely so." 

Amid this general dearth of religious interest among the Brazilians, 
it will of course be expected that the moral training of the poor slave 
has been totally neglected, and that he yet remains in all the darkness 
and degradation of African heathenism. Treated -as a beast of burden, 
he can know but little more of his moral responsibility to God than 
the mule he drives.* 

We find no evidence, thus far, that will warrant our adopting any 
other agency than Christianity as a primary means of moral im- 
provement for the African slave, or in the civilization of any barbar- 
ous people. Nor do we find any agency elsewhere than in the 
United States, upon which reliance can be placed for exlendino- a 
Christian civilization to Africa. 

"But," says one, "you have passed by an element of human pro- 
gress, more certain in its operation than any you have named. Give 
the slave but liberty, and he will vindicate his humanity, and rise to 
an equality with his imperious oppressor. This language once seemed 
oracubir, but time, which tests opinions and theories, has fully shown 
that there is no magic power in liberty and equality, any more than 
in trale and commerce, to originate civilization and produce a moral 
revolution among a savage or semi-barbarous people. 

In proof of this proposition, it is only necessary, to our present 

* The population of Brazil, at present, is as follows : 

Slaves 3,000,000 

Indians and Free Negroes 2,500,000 

Whites li500,'o00 

A large majority of the army, as well officers as privates, are of African 
descent. 



42 Relutiona of American Slavery 

purpose, to refer to Hayli, where, after enjoying liberty and equality 
for nearly half a century, the people have with apparent willingness 
submitted to despotism, and bid fair, if regener-iting agencies from 
abroad are not introduced, to relapse into barbarism. Hayti, like 
Brazil and Cuba, having only a fettered Chrhiianily, derived from 
France, made no provision for the instruction of the slaves. School 
houses for the people, tliose eurlieat off-shoots of a free Christianity, 
liad not been provided by the French proprietors for their slaves. 
Hence, when the shackles of slavery were removed from the slaves 
of Hayti, by the act of the ('onstituent Assembly of France, Intelli- 
gence not prevailing, the Industry of the Island, formerly compulso- 
ry, was soon abandoned. Before emancipation, says Blackwood's 
Magazine, 1848, the exports from Hayti, of sugar alone, reached six 
hundred and seventy-two millions of pounds, and the consumption of 
French manufactures, in the island, reached $49,450,000 ; but at 
present, she neither exports a single pound of sugar, nor imports a 
single article of manufictures. 

In this result we have a startling confirmation of the truth of the 
proposition stated in our former lecture, when discussing the results 
of West India emancipation, that intelligence must precede volun- 
tary industry. 

Nor has tlie Christian world neglected to offer to Hayti a free 
Christianity, that she too might be blest by its transforming power. 
The offer was made and rejected, and this day she is reaping the 
bitter consequences. In 1835, the American Baptist Missionary 
Society made an attempt to establish a mission in Hayti, which at 
first promised success, but was abandoned in 1837. When Mr. 
Phillippo visited that Island in 1842, about a dozen members, fruits 
of this mission, yet remained. 

As early as 1816 the English Wesleyans commenced a mission in 
Hayti, but in 1819 the missionary had to leave on account of perse- 
cution from the adiierents of the prevailing religion. The converts, 
left behind, faithful to the truth, endured a series of persecutions, bitter 
and relendess, only stopping short of actual martyrdom. In 1830, 
they numbered only ninety members, under tlie care of a native 
preacher ordained in England. 

'I'he missionaries found ignorance and immorality predominant at 
this period, and, in one or more instances, had evidence suflicient 
afforded to prove that idolatry was practised in Hayti. 

Between 1820 and 1829, a brisk emigration from the United 
States to Hayti, was conducted, transferring, according to Benjamin 
Lundy, eight thousand free colored persons to that Island, the ex- 
penses of six thousand of whom being paid by the Haytien govern- 
ment. But this infusion of Republican leaven, though equaling in 
number the whole of the emigrants sent to Liberia, seems not lo 
have wrought any wonders in the civilization of their brother 
Republicans. All have quieUy sunk down together into despotism. 
The present social and moral condition of Hayti may be inferred 
from the following extract of a letter from the Rev. Mr. Graves, one of 
the editors of the Christian Reflector, who recently visited the Island. 



To African Civilization. 43 

" The Sabbath is the great business day of the week to the middle 
and lower classes, while the rich employ it as a holiday. It is the 
day especially devoted to military parade and marketing. The 
public squares are crowded with buyers and sellers, and all the 
shops thronged with customers as on no other day of the week. 
The marriage relation is, for the most part, sustained without a 
marriage contract, and divorce and polygamy are too common to 
excite attention. The faithful husband of a wife is a character so 
rare as to be a marked exception to the general rule. * * * « 
In a word, the institutions of tlie Sabbath and of marriage, are alike 
prostrate. Both have a name; but the divine object of neither is 
secured, with a vast majority of the population. As a legitimate 
consequence, profaneness, intemperance, and vulgarity extensively 
characterize all classes of society." 

Tiie revolution in Hayti, which expelled Boyer from the Island, 
led to a correspondence having in view the introduction of mission- 
aries from the United States. One of the letters from a prominent 
citizen of Jeremie, 1843, says, "You have exactly hit on the essen- 
tial points in recommending the establishment of individual families 
by marriages, to serve as a basis of the great social family, the 
establishment of institutions for the diffusion of moral and religious 
instruction," &c. 

The inference to be drawn from this letter is, that in 184.3, as in 
1849, the marriage relation was not established and respected in 
Hayti. 

Here, then, in Hayti, we have the proof that liberty and equality, 
enjoyed socially and politically, to its fullest extent, are also power- 
less in the promotion of civilization. Even its newly made emperor, 
we are told, still practises some heathenish rites allied to the devil- 
worship of Africa. We shall not go to despotic Hayti for agents to 
help to build up Republican Liberia. 

But shall we go to Mexico for aid in the civilization of Africa? A 
part of the population, torn by the slave trade from Africa, was taken 
to Mexico. As our plan contemplates the tracing of the various 
lines of dispersion, so as to hiquire into the results, a glance at 
Mexico will be appropriate, especially as we have in that govern- 
ment still a different phase of the movement exhibited to us for our 
instruction. 

The character of the earlier Spanish adventurers and colonists in 
Mexico, and the means by which they subdued and enslaved the 
natives, is too familiar to all to need a notice at present. From a 
statement in Jay's Review of the Mexican War, we learn that the 
population of Mexico stands as follows: 

Indians, . . 4,000,000 

Whites, . . 1,000,000 

Negroes, . . 6,000 

Mixed breeds, . 2,009,509=7,015,509. 

Jmlge Jay, it must be remembered, is a warm abolitionist, and of 
course not disposed to asperse the character of the descendants 
of Africa anywhere. By this statement it will be perceived, that 



44 Relations of American Slavery 

one important object has been gained in Mexico, and which, in the 
opinion of many, constitutes the sole barrier to the colored man's 
elevation in the United States. We refer io prejudice against color. 
In Mexico it seems to have had no existence, but that, on the con- 
trary, amalgamation, on an extended scale, has been practised, 
producing a population of mixed breeds, amounting to more than 
two millions of souls, out of seven millions, and reducing the pure 
negro stock, imported from Africa, to the meager number of six 
thousand. But this was not the only point gained for tlie African in 
Mexico. In due time, liberty and equality were also bestowed. 
Mexico, in 1813, threw off the yoke of Spain, and declared herself a 
Republic. But the attempt of Iturbide, to restore a despotism, raising 
up a race of military chieftains for his overthrow, afterward pro- 
duced a struggle for power, resulting, in 1824, in the prohibition of 
the slave trade, and the adoption of a constitution declaring /ref all 
born after tiiat date. Pedraza being elected President, Santa Anna 
at the head of the military, interposed, and placed in the presidential 
chair the defeated candidate, Guerrero, who, to strengtiien himself, and 
the better to resist an invasion from Spain, then in process of execu- 
tion, issued a decree, September, 1829, emancipating all the slaves. 
Thus was liberty and equality at once secured to the slaves of Mexico. 

But Mexico, under Spain, had a fettered Christianity, trans- 
planted to her soil, which is still retained, and she has carefully 
excluded from her limits a free Christianity, with its schoolhouses 
and Bibles for the people. The third article of her constitution 
of 1824, declares, that, " 'J'he religion of the Mexican nation is, and 
will be perpetually, the Roman Catholic Apostolic. The nation will 
protect it by wise and just laws, and prohibit the exercise of any 
other whatever." It is true, that when Bustamente, who deposed 
Guerrero, was overturned in 1833, by Santa Anna, tliis general 
attempted to pursue a liberal course of policy, and abolished ecclesi- 
astical tithes, monastic vows, and the authority of the Pope ; and 
took the education of youth out of the hands of the priests, appointing 
the professors in the five free colleges which he established, without 
regard to country or religious faith. But this effort to liberalize the 
religion of Mexico proved an abortion, the President, after putting 
down several revolts, being forced to readopt the old System as the 
establisiied faith of Mexico. 

Now let us see what has been gained for the Africans who were 
taken to Mexico. First, the abolition oi prejudice and the adoption 
of amalgamation ; and second, emancipation ivilh liberty and 
equality, including the right of suffrage. Here, then, in the opinion 
of many, is a vast gain for the African, above what he has had grapted to 
him el-ewhere ; because, though, in Hayti, he had liberty and equality, 
yt.i all Leing AJ'rican together, there was not the honor conferred 
whieb was secured in Mexico, by making him the equal to the de- 
scendants of the proud Casiilians who had conquered Montezuma. 
Now lor the results of these favoring circumstances. But, happily for 
us, Judite Jay has drawn the picture of Mexico, for 1840, to the life. 

"The Republic of Mexico had long been the prey of military 



To African Civilization. 45 

chieftains, who, in their struggles for power, and the perpetual 
revolutions they had excited, had exhausted the resources of the 
country. Without money, without credit, without a single frigate, 
without commerce, without union, and with a feeble population of 
seven or eight millions, composed chiefly of Indians and mixed 
breeds, scattered over immense regions, and for the most part sunk 
in ignorance, and sloth, Mexico was certainly not a very formidable 
enemy to the United States." In addition, the Judge states, that tlie 
exports from Mexico, in 1842, were, exclusive of gold and silver, 
$1,500,000, or a little over forty-nine and a half cents per head to 
her population, excluding the Indians. To those who are curious 
in seeking for contrasts, it may be interesting to them to know, that 
the export commerce of Liberia is about $100 per head for each 
emigrant residing in the Republic. 

Here, now, are the results of the movements in Mexico. She 
adopted a Republican form of government, denounced the foreign 
slave trade, and emancipated her slaves, placing the whole population 
in a condition of social and political equaUty. But in thus obeying the 
dictates of one of the fundamental principles of the North American 
confederacy, which declares the natural equalily of mankind, she 
overlooked the other still more important one, that only men of in- 
telligence, and moral integrity are capa/jle of self-government. This 
fatal error, the source of all her misfortunes, was the result of another 
oversight which Mexico committed in the outset of her career. In 
casting oflf the shackles of political despotism, she retained the 
fettered form of Christianity which had been adopted to give security 
to crowned heads, and which is so antagonistic to the spirit of repub- 
lican institutions. This system, where not stimidated by the rivalry, 
of a free Christianity, makes no provision for general education. The 
Republican leaders, therefore, who wished to advance the general intel- 
igeiice of the people, could not accomplish the task, nor take the educa- 
tional interests out of the hands of those who had previously possessed 
their control. The ignorance of the masses being thus perpetuated, 
the severing of the ties binding the slave to the master left the freed 
man, in consequence of his ignorance, a constant prey to the 
intrigues of military chieftains. The riijht of suffrage was thus 
rendered almost utterly valueless in Mexico, because the decisions 
of the ballot-box were repeatedly set aside, and the power of the 
sword interposed to give to the nation its rulers. How far emanci- 
pation in Mexico may have arrested the prosperity of the nation, 
and tended to destroy its internal peace, rendering property and life 
insecure, by letting loose a large number of semibarbarous and 
savage men from the restraints of slavery, to be controlled at will by 
ambitious chieftains, we shall not wait to inquire. Our concern is 
with the eflects [)roduced upon the Africans by their transfer to 
Mexico. Their history tells us, that liberty and equality in Mexico, 
have fallen far short in the production of the good to the slave which his 
wants require ; not that these privileges are valueless and ought to be 
withheld, but because that the intellectual and moral culture, which 
impart intelligence and moral integrity, were not included in the gift. 



46 Relations of ^^merican Slavery 

We have now completed the circuit of our investigations. The 
facts revealed in relation to the intensity of the wretchedness of the 
African race, not only in Africa itself, but in many of the countries to 
which they have been transported, are well calculated, at first view, 
to cause the philanthropic heart to shrink from making an effort to 
afford relief, because of the immensity of the obstacles to be over- 
come, before their deliverance can be accomplished. But, upon a 
closer view of the subject, it would seem that their dispersion to the 
different countries in which they have been enslaved, was permitted 
by Divine Providence, with the view of teaching the world some 
great lessons upon llie subject of the true elements of human pro- 
gress, and at the same time to make ample provision for the recovery 
of Africa from barbarism. Let us see. 

Without at present recapitulating the facts upon which we base 
our opinions, or stating the arguments by which they may be sup- 
ported, the investigations, just completed, afford much material to 
sustain the following conclusions : 

I. That a Free Christianity — revealing the individual responsibility 
of man to God, producing a pure morality, generating independence 
of thought, begetting a spirit of philanthropy, and teaching the natu- 
ral equality of mankind — is the primary element of civilizauon 
and all useful human progress. 

II. That the secondary but essential elements of civilization and use- 
ful human progress, and which are included in and necessarily 
dependent, for their full development, upon the primary, are these : 

1. Liberty of conscience in the worsiiip of God 

2. Both secular and religious education. 

3. Personal freedom. 

4. Social and political equality. 

5. The sacredness of the marriage relation, and the possession and 
control, by parents, of their offspring. 

0. The righi of property in the fruits of industry. 

7. 'J'iine, for the operation and development of these elements. 

From tiie possession of these rights and privileges, and their C077- 
stant e.iercise, there necessarily is produced among men : First, The 
fear of God and just conceptions of moral responsibility. Second, 
An enlightenment of conscience, begetting moral integrity and a pure 
morality, thus securing confidence between man and man, and creat- 
ing the basis of the safety of society. Third, A proper estimate of 
man's relations and responsibilities to his fellow-man. Fourth, Phi- 
lanthropy, or the desire of the welfare of our neighbor. Fifth, The 
love of home and of ofispring, leading to untiring eflbrts for their 
welfare. Sixth, Industry, to accumulate property for the individual's 
or the family's use. Seventh, Trade and commerce, to supply the 
artificial wants which advancing civilization creates. 

The truth of these conclusions being admitted, it will follow, that 
just so far as the primary and secondary elements of civilization 
and useful human progress are possessed, or not possessed, in whole 
or in part, by a barbarous or semi-barbarous people, to the same 



To African Civilization. 47 

extent and in the same proportion may we expect them to advance or 
retrograde. And if we find that tlie progress or non-progress of the 
Africans, who foim the subject of our inquiries, has been in tlie pro- 
portion in which they have enjoyed, or not enjoyed, all, or some, or 
none, of the blessings, rights, and privileges named, then we have 
evidence to establish the truth of the proposition, that the catalogue 
given, constitutes the elements of civilization. And further, it being 
thus proved, that a free Christianity necessarily begets intelligence 
and moral integrity, and therefore tends to restore man to his original 
stale of knowledge and uprightness ; alid as such a moral condition 
necessarily secures the welfare of society, it follows, tlwt our propo- 
sition, heretofore slated, is true, viz : that Christianity , linear rupted, 
is capable of restoring to man his lost happiness. Now let us see 
how far our conclusions are sustained by the facts brought out in our 
investigations. 

In the United States, where the primary element, a free Christian- 
ity, had its birth, the commencement of the slave's elevation is of 
equal date with his touching the shore. But as the seconilary ele- 
ments of progress have been mostly denied to the slave, and the pri- 
mary often enjoyed but imperfectly, his advancement lias been 
impeded, and his progress falls short of what it would have been, had 
his privileges been more extended, so as to include more of the ele- 
ments of civilization. This view is fully sustained by the fact, that 
the greater advancement made by ihe free colored man over the slave, 
in the United States, is about in the proportion of the extent of the 
additional privileges which he has enjoyed. 

In Jamaica, which, for three hundred years, was emphatically 
without r(ligio7i, and where, during that time, neither the primary 
nor a single one of the secondary elements of civilization were in 
the possession of the slaves, no progress was made by them until a 
free Christianity was introduced and their religious education com- 
menced. Nor was the progress rapid until the emancipation act, of 
1833, put them in possession of an increased number of the elements 
of civilization. As they still lack an essential element, social and 
political equality, and as secular and religious educatii n is not sup- 
plied to the extent of the wants of the population, retarding causes 
exist in Jamaica, which will pi event that high intellectual and moral 
development that should be secured to the African. 

In Cuba and Brazil, it does not appear that the slaves possess 
either the primary or secondary elements of civilization, and, conse- 
quently, the first step in hunan progiess remains to be taken. Un- 
like Jamaica, which was without religion, Cuba and Brazil had a 
fettered Christianity, but sunk so low as to have lost what little vital- 
ity it once possessed, and consequently, in these countries no one 
has cared for the soul of the slave, but he is still left to toil on in 
mental and moral night, and in anguish and in woe, until a premature 
death kindly wrests him from the oppressor's grasp. 

In Hayti, one fact presents itself, of peculiar importance in proof 
of our proposition, that a free Christianity is the primary element of 
civilization. The primary element alone existed among the slaves 



48 Relations of American Slavery 

of the United States, and all the secondary, except liberty of con- 
science, and religious education, were wanting; yet progress was 
made, and an approximation to civilization attained. But in Hayli, for 
nearly half a century, all the secondary elements of progress, except- 
ing liberty of conscience and secular and religious education, were in 
possession of the people, but instead of progress under these advan- 
tages, there has been retrogression; and no other sufficient renson 
can be assigned for it, but that the primary element, a free Christian- 
ity, which alone can develope the moral powers of man and impart 
life and activity to the secondary elements, was wholly excluded from 
the island. Had Hayti, when she became republican, possessed the 
primary element of progress, she would have been dotted over with 
sclioolhouses and churches ; secular and religious education would 
have prevailed everywhere ; the sacredness of the marriage relation 
would have been respected ; the welfare of offspring promoted ; vol- 
untary industry adopted, and the energies of its inhabitants roused 
into action. Under these circumstances despotism could not have 
reentered the island. 

The facts in relation to the colored population of Mexico, are so 
strictly the same with those of Hayti, that wc need not slate them. 
Twenty years' possession of nearly all the secondary elements of 
civilization, but in complete destitution of the primary, has scarcely 
impelled them forward a step beyond their original barbarism. To 
the white population of Mexico, the results have been very similar to 
what has occurred in Brnzil. In both countries, tiiere is danger, it 
would seem, from the natural tendencies of fallen human nature to 
barbarism, that the civilization transplanted from Europe, in the ab- 
sence of the primary element of progress, may greatly retrograde, in 
consequence of the overpowering influence of heathenism, by which 
it is surrounded. This remark will equally apply to nearly all the 
South American governments, which, on throwing ofl' the European 
yoke of political despotism, and giving freedom to the slave, made no 
provision for public education, either secular or religious. 

But this examination of the different results that have grown out 
of the various degrees, in which the African has been brought under 
the influence of the elements of civilization, in the countries where 
he has been enslaved, may now be closed. Facts enough are given, 
certainly, to teach us important lessons in relation to the elements of 
useful human progress — facts enough to show that Christianity is the 
primary element of civilization ; not Christianity, as feitered and 
made an enirine of despotic sway over mankind, holding them in 
ignorance of their rights and obligations; but a free Christianity, 
based upon the Bible, demanding for men, equal rights and liberty of 
conscience, and teaching them that respect for the rights of others, 
and that moral integrity which gives security to governments, based 
upon law — facts enough, too, to prove, that unless all the elements of 
progress, primary and secondary, be enjoyed unrestrained, and in 
full exercise, by a people, there will exist impediments to their 
advancement — facts enough, further, to prove that it is dangerous to 



To African Civilization. 49 

withhold from men, the elements of moral progress, when conferring 
upon ihem those of social and political advancement — and facts 
enough, furthermore, to prove, that for a civilized community, or state, 
or nation, to admit a barbarous or semi-barbarous people into its 
bosom, or to retain them when forced upon it, without supplying to 
them the elements of intellectual and moral elevation, is to cherish 
an agent antagonistic to civilization, and which must react unfavorably 
upon itself, in retarding, if not preventing, its further prosperity. 

Our investigations also show, that tiie African race is not in posses- 
sion of all the elements of civilization in any of the countries to which 
they have been transported. A further investigation would show that 
there is no prospect, at present, of their ever attaining them in these 
countries. But as their possession and free exercise, is essential to 
the production of the highest mental and moral developments of 
which the race is susceptible, the establishment of the Republic of 
Liberia, becomes a matter of the highest importance, and most pro- 
found interest to the colored race. 

In the Republic of Liberia, and in Liberia only, can the colored 
vian obtain possession and the free exercise of all the elements of 
civilization, and useful human progress. In the Republic of the 
United States, and in the United States only, can the ivliile man 
obtain possession and the free exercise of all the elements of civili- 
zation, and useful human progress. Here are two facts, not to be 
controverted. There exists at present, no European government, 
whose population possesses all these elements of progress. France 
has put herself in possession of the secondary, but is destitute of the 
primary. England may be said, in a good degree, to possess the 
primary, but withholds a part of the secondary from a large portion 
of her people. We repeat the assertion, therefore, that the Republic 
of the United Slates, is the only nation under the sun, where the 
white man can enjoy all the elements of useful human progress, and 
that the Republic of Liberia, is the only point, on the whole earth, 
where the colored man can enjoy them. And, further, we assert, 
that the United States is the only country, where the colored man has 
had the opportunity of enjoying any part of these blessings, U7id of 
witnessing the workings of the whole, and of cotnprehending their 
nature, and learning their value. 

And now we aie prepared also to assert, that the United States, 
only, of all the governments of the earth, possesses the necessary 
agents, in the persons of intelligent and industrious colored men, 
to recover Africa from barbarism, and to bestoiv upon that be- 
nighted laiid, as we are now doing in Liberia, all the elements ne- 
cessary to the production of the highest decree of civilization, and 
of thus securing to her, the greatest amount of prosperity, and of 
happiness. 

Here, then, are the results of bringing together, on the soil of the 
United States, the highest developments of Christian intelligence and 
integrity, and the lowest form of pagan ignorance and depravity. 
Here are the results of the experiment which, seemingly, was to test 



■fi6 Relations of American Slavery 

the capability of a free Christianity to transform the grossest material 
of humanity into tlie most refined — proving the unity and natural 
equality of the human race. Here is ample testimony, to prove the 
sufficiency of a pure Christianity, to restore to man his lost happi- 
ness. And here, now, is unfolded to view, the solution of the great 
question involved in all our investigations, //le relation which the sla- 
very of the United Stales bears to the recovery of Africa from 
barbarism. 

The people of Liberia are themselves a standing wonder to the 
world. The greater part of them were slaves, until the hour they 
left our shores, and of all men in the world, would have been pro- 
nounced, and were pronounced, the least able to accomplish the work 
they were sent to perform. But the elements of progress were borne 
along with them. The missionaries of a free Christianity offered 
themselves as a willing sacrifice, from year to year, to plant tiie ele- 
ments of civilization in Africa, that there, amid moral darkness and 
degradation, the evidence might be furnished, that the religion of 
their Lord and Master was divine; and able, not only, to secure 
eternal life to the soul of the believer, but to redeem the world from 
oppression and woe. 

Europe stands astonished at the mighty progress of the United 
States, in all that is ennobling and great. Its people imitate our ex- 
ample, and aim at our results, wiUiout understanding the secret of our 
success, and therefore fail. They seem to be wholly incapable of 
comprehending the nature of our free institutions. Liberty, under 
the restraints of law, is an enigma they cannot solve. Thus far, we 
have stood alone, as a monument of the power of Republican Insti- 
tutions, to advance the welfare of man. And, indeed, such seemed 
to be our unique position, that we were ready to boast that only the 
Anglo-Saxon could be safely free. But now Liberia, as if to rebuke 
us for our pride, stands forward, and begins to loom up as another 
monument of the power of free institutions. He that was once a 
poor slave, and cowered beneath the voice of the white man, now 
stands erect in Liberia, like his own native palm tree, nor bows in 
meek submission but to the voice of the Eternal. 

The citizens of Liberia are beginning to realize the relations and 
responsibilities of their new position, and call loudly for help to exe- 
cute the high destiny to which they are called. Said the Rev. Mr. 
Paine, of Liberia, when on a visit to New York, with President 
Roberts, 1848: " Nearly every one of the officers, from the least 
even to the greatest, are communicants in some evangelical church, 
and adorn their life by a holy walk and conversation. You do not 
find them on the Sabbath day, strolling about the streets, and seeking 
for pleasure, as I have seen your people in this country, but they are 
found in die school and sanctuary. As an evidence of their being a 
strictly moral and religious people, he would state, that out of eleven 
members in the House of Representatives, and six in the Senate, 
seventeen in all, only one was not a professor of religion. Intelli- 
gent Liberians," continued Mr. Paine, "are impressed with the con- 
viction, that the Supreme Disposer of events, has called them to a 



To Jlfrican Civilization. 51 

high mission; that they have transferred Plymoulh to Africa, and 
that civilizaiioii, republicanism, and Christianity, are to proceed from 
them over a vast continent that Hes in the shadow of death. They 
are nerving themselves to the fulfillment of such a destiny. They 
have grasped the great idea, and have incorporated it with the foun- 
dations of the Republic." 



APPENDIX. 

|C7° Attention is directed to the following mevement : 

OHIO IN AFRICA. 

At a meeting of colored citizens of Cincinnati, held on the 14th 
inst., the following preamble and resolutions were offered and adopted : 
Whereas, Believing, that with all the exertions on our part, and 
the assistance of those friendly to our elevation, we must despair of 
ever seeing the prejudice manifested against our people done aw'ay in 
the United States, for centuries yet to come, from two ostensible 
reasons : 

First, As no colored persons ever voluntarily emigrated to this 
country, but were brought here in chains, consequently, we that are 
here, are either slaves or tiieir descendants ; and being thus situated, 
the vain pride of the while race will never admit the social equality 
of a people who are their bondsmen, or whose fathers have been 
their slaves. 

Second, We beheve all nations, or men, are respected according to 
their ability to control, by numbera, or intelligence ; we, possessing 
neither, can never expect to enjoy s, political equality where we must 
fail to command and enforce respect. 

Under these considerations, having feelings and aspirations such as 
other men, we feel it to be a duty which we owe to posterity, to seek 
a home where we may be free and our children reared under the 
blessings of liberty. Other nations have colonized and prospered, 
and why not we ? When blessed with the same advantages, we are 
equal to any and inferior to none. Tlierefore, 

Resolved, That we believe that Liberia offers to the oppressed 
children of Africa a home where they may be free: and thai it is the 
only place where we can establish a nationality, and be acknowledged 
as men by the nations of the earth. 

Fesolved, That the present meeting enter into the orgimization of 
an Association for the purpose of emigrating to the territory now 
being purchased on the coast of Africa, by Charles McMicken, 
Esq., of this city, for the colored people of Ohio. 

Iiesolv'd, That we believe it expedient, before emigrating to Libe- 
ria, to send out efficient agents to examine the country, and bring 
back some satisfactory report to our people. 

Resolve I, That this preamble and resolutions be published in 
several of the papers of this city. 

ELL\.S P. WALKER, Chairman. 
Wm. Byrd, Secretary. 



52 Cannibalism. 

The following important letter, from the Rev. J. P. Pinney, for- 
merly Governor of Liberia, was not received in time for insertion in 
the proper place : 

David Christy, Esq. 

Bear Brother — Your interestingletter of the 16th ult., lingered, and 
then my absence for a few days, to attend a meeting at Annapolis, 
delayed a reply until it is probably too late to do you a service. In 
Mr. Tracy's pamphlet, entitled "Missions in Africa," there is a note 
with some interesting facts relative to cannibalism. 

I never saw men eating human flesh, but have heard of its being 
done in the vicinity of Liberia. 

The letters of Sion Harris and Rev. G. Brown, who were attacked 
at the mission of the M. E. Church, at Heddington, in 1840, by 
Gotorah, the famous Condo warrior, (he had threatened to eat the 
missionary), state that the dried limbs of men slain previously were 
thrown away in their flight. 

This same warrior visited Gov. Buchanan, in 1839, to treat for a 
peace, and while there gave, in public council, as an objection to 
making peace, that he would have nobody to eat. 

In 1835, while I was agent of the Colonization Society, I 'sent two 
Methodist ministers, who were men of high standing, each having 
before been elected to the oflice of Vice Governor of the Colony, as 
commissioners to negotiate a peace between the Veys and Condoes. 
While they were at Bo-poro, the chief town of the Condo nation, 
they stated that human flesh was offered in the market for food. 

In 1833, I made a tour sixty or seventy miles, to a king north-east 
of the Bassa Cove Colony. My purpose was to proceed several 
hundred miles, but the king resolutely refused leave, and no bribe or 
importunity prevailed to change his decision. The reason assigned 
was, that as I came with letters from the Governor, the King was 
responsible for my safety, and the neighboring tribe, Pessa men, 
would kill and eat me. 

The missionaries from England to Coomassie, capital of Ashantee, 
stated in their published journal, in 1841, that they saw men return- 
ing from the market with human limbs for food. 

Of the Gallinas, I know nothing from actual observation. I im- 
agine that Cape Mount would furnish you as good a point for a 
settlement. By occupying Gallinas, you would more surely exter- 
minate the greatest slave mart in western Africa. 

Very respectfully, yours, 

J. B. PINNEY. 

New York, March 2, 1850. 



4 LECTURE 

ON THE 

PRESENT RELi^TIONS 

OF 

FREE LABOR TO SLAVE LABOR, 

IN TROPICAL AND SEMI-TROnCAL COUNTRIES: 

PRESENTING 

AN OUTLINE OF THE COMMERCIAL FAILURE OF WEST INDIA EMANCI- 
PATION, AND ITS EFFECTS UPON SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE 
TRADE, TOGETHER WITH ITS FINAL EFFECT UPON 
COLONIZATION TO AFRICA. 

ADDRESSED TO THE 

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION 
OF THE STATE OF OHIO, 185 0. 

By DAVID CHRISTY, 

AGENT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETV. 



COLUMBUS: 

PUBLISHED BY J. H. RILEY & CO. 

PRINTED BY SCOTT & BASCOM. 

o 1853. 



0' 



'&^ 



TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION 
OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 

Gentlemen : 

It had been in contemplation, during your Summer 
Session at Columbus, to ask tlie privilege of addressing you on the sub- 
ject of the Constitutional provision which should be made to secure 
Legislative aid for such of the colored people of Ohio as may wish to 
emtgrate to Liberia. But your early adjournment prevented the execu- 
tion^ of that design. After consultation with some of your number, it 
has been determined, that the Lecture, prepared for that purpose, be 
printed and circulated among the members of the Convention, in advance 
of their meeting in December. 

An apology would be due, on account of the extent of the investiga- 
tions embraced in the Lecture, were it not that we live in a matter-of- 
fact age, when the reasons offered in support of every measure, proposed 
for public acceptance, must amount to demonstration. The present 
Lecture is designed as a sequel to the two heretofore delivered before 
the Legislature, on the subject of Colonization, and which were laid 
upon your desks at Columbus. It is believed that every unprejudiced 
mind must be convinced, after examining the subject of Colonization to 
Liberia, in all its bearings, that it oifers to the colored people an inher- 
itance almost infinitely more valuable than any other scheme tliat has 
been proposed for ameliorating their condition. It is also believed that 
the time has arrived when the question of tlie emigration of the colored 
people from (his countri/, or their permanent residence among us, must be 
settled. If the first measure be not adopted, then the public peace and 
safety demand that ample provision for their elevation, to equal social 
and political equality, under the last, be speedily made. But if it be the 
public will, that the African population of our country be secured in the 
peaceable possession of a free government of their own, then immediate 
action should be taken to promote that object. To delay the adoption of 
measures for encouraging emigration to Liberia, affords time for their 
increase, and makes the work more difficult to accomplish. The success 
of our proposed Colony from this State to Ohio in Africa, will prompt 
other States to similar efibrts, and the cause of Colonization be greatly 
advanced. But as the extent of our success, in planting our Ohio Col- 
ony, must depend upon the amount of pecuniary aid that will he giveti by 
the State itself, it is respectfully urged that you will give the proposition, 
brought forward in the close of the Lecture, all the consideration that 
its importance demands. 

Your obedient servant, 

DAVID CHRISTY, 

Agent American Colonization Society for Ohio. 
Oxford, Ohio, Oct. 1, 1850. 



"^^ A L E C T U R E 

va*' ON THE 

PRESENT RELATIONS 

OF 

FREE LABOR TO SLAVE LABOR. 



INTRODUCTION. 

In our two precedin^^ lectures, we have presented the leading inci- 
dents connected with tlie enslavement of the African race, and pointed 
out the great ad vantages secured to them in the United States, over 
those afforded in any other country. The facts presented therein 
also show, that the work of Africa's redemption from harbarism has 
been encouragingly commenced by our Colonization scheme. It is 
natural, therefore, that we should cast about to see whether the im- 
pelling forces, tending to promote and perfect this great work, possess 
sufficient power to insure its success. For it must be confessed, that, 
in view of the vastness of the work to be accomplished — including 
the secular and religious education of perhaps more than one hundred 
and sixty millions of savage men — if no more numerous agencies can 
be brought to tlie execution of the task, than the noble little band of 
Liberians, hope would almost sicken and die, in contemplating the 
length of time tiiat must elapse before civilization and the gospel can 
be made to reach the whole population of Africa, 

In tracing the causes now in operation, which must rapidly propel 
the work of Africa's civilization, we find that the tacts may be brought 
most forcibly to view, by contrasting the present relations of Free 
Labor to Slave Labor, in the cultivation of those tropical and semi- 
tropical products, upon which slave labor has been and is now chiefly 
employed. 

We may be told — indeed we have already been warned by a 
iViend, to whom the statistics have been shown — that by arraying such 
fids, before the public, as we have collated, we shall greatly strengthen 
slavery. IJut we must beg leave to say, that we apprehend no such 
results. The facts are such as the friends of Jifrican freedom, every 
where, should know, to enable them to adopt some practical and 
efficient remedy for the evils of the slave trade and shivery. It is 
not necessary to publish the fact to the slaveholder of ('uba and 
Brazil, that free labor, in the English and French West Indies, has 



4 Introduction. 

failed to supply to commerce an amount of tropical commodities 
equal to what had been furnished by slave labor bel'ore emancipation. 
They already know this fact. Slaveholders, whether engaged in 
the pro(hunion of cotton, sugar, or coffee, have known it, and profited 
by it. The slave trader, also, has known the result of West India 
emancipation, and has quadrupled his business and his profits by 
possessing that knowledge. And shall the Philanthropist, alone, be 
debarred from knowing truths of such moment? 

The facts which we sliall present may be unwelcome to some, yet 
they cannot be controverted. Tliey may detract somewhat from the 
honors claimed by many who boast of their success in checking the 
progress of slavery, and may prove that they were more benevolent 
than wise, but it cannot be avoided. The day has come for decisive 
action upon the subject of the suppression of the slave trade, and the 
civilization of Africa. All schemes hitherto adopted have signally 
failed. The wisest statesmen have been baffled and defeated in their 
attempts. It is time, tlicrefore, that a review of the actions of the 
past should be taken, and the results spread out before the pul)lic. In 
the execution of this (ask, if faithfully performed, it is believed that 
there may be found some common ground upon which all the friends 
of Africa and of humanity may cordially cooperate. 

The evidence whicli we have been enabled to collect upon this 
subject, is all from undoubted authorities, and we believe will clearly 
establish the following propositions : 

I. That Free Labor, in tropical and semi-tropical countries, is tailing 
to furnish to the markets of the world, in any thing like adequate 
quantities, those commodities upon which slave labor is chiefly 
employed. 

II. That the governments of England, France, and the United States, 
at the present moment, are comj)clled, from necessity, to consume 
slave labor products, to a large extent, and thus still continue to be 
the principal agents which aid in extending and perpetuating slavery 
and tlie slave tiade. 

III. That the legislative measures adopted for the destruction of the 
slave trade and slavery, especially by England, have tended to 
increase and extend the systems they were designed to destroy. 

IV. 'J'hat the governments named, cannot hope to escape from the 
necessity of consuming the products of slave labor, except by call- 
ing into active service, on an extensive scale, the free labor of 
countries not at present producing the commodities upon which 
slave labor is employed. 

V. That Africa is the principal field where free labor can be made 
to compete, successfully, with slave labor, in the production of 
exportable tropical commodities. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 5 

VI. That there are moral forces and commercial considerations now 
in operation, which will, necessarily, impel Christian governments 
to exert their influence for the civilization of Africa, and the pro- 
motion of the prosperity of the Repubhc of Liberia, as the prin- 
cipal agency in this great work. ; and that in these facts lies our 
encouragement to persevere in our Colonization efforts. 

VII. That all these agencies and influences being brought to bear 
upon the civilization of Africa, from the nature of its soil, climate, 
products, and population, we are forced to believe that a mighty 
people will ultimately rise upon that continent^ taking rank with 
the most powerful nations of the earth, and vindicate the character 
of the African race before the world. 

Not the least interesting result, growing out of the investigations 
upon which we are entering, when taken in connection with those of 
our two preceding lectures, is the conviction that has been produced 
in our own mind, and which we believe will be made upon all, that 
England and the United States, the two governments at present most 
capable of exerting the greatest moral influence over Africa, and of 
calling into activity her latent but giant energies, are at this moment 
involved in positions of so much embarrassment, in consequence of 
their having been connected with the slave trade and slavery, that 
they cannot extricate themselves, but by the civilization of Africa. 

France, also, in the case of her former colony of Hayti, has had 
poured out to her a portion of the cup of bitterness, which, it seems, 
must be pressed to the lips of all the naUons who have participated 
in oppressing Africa, By her late act of emancipation, in her re- 
maining tropical colonies, France has still farther embarrassed herself, 
and, like England and the United States, must soon be compelled 
either to supply herself ulmorft exclusively with slave-grow n cotton, 
and other tropical products, or lend her aid in promoting free labor 
cultivation in tropical Africa. 

In this remarkable condition of things, we are reminded of the 
great truth, that God presides among the nations, and overrules their 
actions to promote his own purposes of judgment and of mercy to 
mankind, and that governments, like individuals, are hindered in 
their designs here and have free progress there, only so far as corres- 
ponds with his great scheme of displaying his hatred of sin, vindica- 
ting his justice, and of manifesting his love to a fallen world, and his 
determination to redeem it to himself. 

A brief review of some of the leading events, relating to the 
action of the nations of Europe, in their connection with the slave 
trade and slavery, will bring us to the statement of the facts upon 
which we base our propositions. 

The records of history put it beyond all question, that the rapid 
rise of Great Britain, during the 18th century, which secured to her 
the superiority over other nations in naval power, in commerce, and 
ultimately in maimfactures, was due, principally, to her having 



6 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

acquired by the treaty of Utrecht, 1713, the monopoly of the slave 
trade. The traffic in slaves being;, by this treaty, placed under tlie 
control of England, her rivals were deprived of the means of supply- 
ing slaves to their tropical possessions, excepting through her mer- 
chants, while she could add to her colonies any number required by 
the planters. And when we call to mind the fact, that the average 
period of life of the imported African slave, as a protitable laborer in 
the West India colonies, is not over seven years, it will be seen thai 
this treaty most effectually crippled the rivals of England, and of ne- 
cessity gave to her, as is the boast of McQueen, the principal monop- 
oly of the markets of the world for her West India tropical products. 
And, indeed, so seriously were the other powers affected by this 
measure, that in 1739, Spain paid to Great Britain a half million of 
dollars to secure a release of her monopoly for the remaining four 
years to which it extended ; and thus the nations of Europe once 
more became equal participants in this unholy commerce. 

A true idea of the immense valne of England's commercial inter- 
ests, which were based upon the slave trade and slavery, may be 
learned from the fact, that in 1807, the export products of her West 
India possessions employed 250,000 tons of English shipping, and 
that these islands sustained a populalion which consumed annually 
$17,500,000 worth of British manufactures.* It was the possession 
of such resources as these, coupled with her East India acquisitions, 
that enabled England, whose navy at the opening of the 18th century 
was one thousand guns less than that of France, to increase it in one 
hundred years to near its present extent, and shordy after the begin- 
ning of the present century, to bid defiance to the combined oppo- 
sition of the powers of Europe. But it must not be forgotten, that 
much of diis wealth, securing to England such prosperity and such 
glory as she attained, was wrung from African sinews in her West 
India colonies. 

But now begins the era when the power of Great Britain is to 
become arrayed on the side of African freedom. The year 1808 
terminated the connection of both Great Britain and the United 
States with the slave trade. Whatever may be said of the motives 
prompting these governments to this act, it must be admitted, that a 
great work of pliilanthropy was accomplished. But its prohibition 
by these powers, unfortunately, left die monopoly of the traffic in 
slaves in the hands of Spain and Portugal, who prosecuted it with 
die greatest activity, and soon made the soil of Cuba and of Brazil to 
groan beneath the cultivation of those exportable tropical products 
which England had so successfully commenced, and so advantage- 
ously prosecuted. Being then in its infancy, the government of the 
United States could exert but litde influence upon other nations, and, 
consequenUy, the control of this great question rested with England. 
It was a capital error in her policy, to neglect securing an abandon- 
ment of die slave trade by the other European governments. Their 



Blackwood's Mag., le'-l-^, |;. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 7 

success in rivaling her in tropical cultivation, together with the sub- 
sequent legislative errors of Great Britain, and the consequent de- 
struction of the prosperity of her West India colonies, has been fnll}^ 
discussed in our first lecture. Since its publication, however, many 
additional facts have been ascertained, and many new developments 
have been made, in connection with English and French West India 
emancipation, which enable us to understand more clearly its work- 
ings, and to foresee more certainly the final eflects of that great work 
of philanthropy upon the African race. 

The prohibition of the slave trade, and the emancipation of her 
West India slaves,* greatly embarrassed the commercial interests of 
England, and forced her to grapple with the giant evils of the slave 
trade and slavery, and to attempt their destruction. But each step 
taken, after the prohibition of the slave trade, while it certainly pro- 
moted, locallij, the cause of human liberty, dealt a death-blow to some 
of the vital interests of the government. And, as if the Almighty 
had designed to record, in letters of living light, his disapproval of the 
motives prompting England to enslave the African race, these blows 
have fallen upon the identical interests which had been created and 
built up by the slave trade and slavery, viz: her West India sugar, 
cotton, and coffee cultivation, and the markets for her manufactures 
which these islands afforded. 

Previous to 1808, England's West India colonies were supplied 
with laborers from Africa, by means of the slave trade. The slaves 
in these islands numbered 800,000, in that year; but in 1834, when 
their emancipation had been effected, there were only 700,000. t 
This diminution of the slaves, while it very seriously affected the 
exports from the colonies, served to reveal the true character of AVest 
India slavery, and the means by which colonial prosperity had been 
sustained, and can only be accounted for from overworking, and tlie 
great disparity of the sexes always consequent upon the supply of 
laborers by the slave trade 4 

After the supply of slave labor had been cut off, by the prohibition 
of the slave trade, it was discovered that a vast decrease of exports 
was taking place in the colonies. The remedy proposed for this evil 
was emancipation ; by means of which it was conceived that the lib- 
erated slaves would, as freemen, perform twice the labor that had been 
wrung out of them while under the lash, and also that double the 
quantity that had been supplied, of British manufactures, while in 
slavery, would be required to clothe them if free.§ Such a conceit 
as this could never have originated but in a mind entertaining unsound 
views of human nature, and unacquainted with the impossibility of 
controlling, by moral suasion, a half-civilized or savage people, and of 
inducing them to give up long-established habits. But the scheme 
was adopted, and England committed her second legislative error in 



* See Lecture 1, for a full discussion of this subject. 

+ See Life of Buxton, and our First Lecture, p. 41. 

t See Lecture 1, p. 41. § See Lect. 1, p. 39. 



8 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

anti-slavery effort. The emancipation of the West India slaves 
was decreed in 1833, and fully executed in 1838. 

Tlie movements of France in relation to African freedom, must 
also be noticed, to obtain a clear view of the present relations of free 
labor to slave labor. The history of the island of St. Domingo sup- 
plies materials of great interest upon this subject. The French por- 
tion of that island, in 1789, consisting of 30,826 whites, and 27,548 
free colored persons,* had 480,000 slaves! employed in agriculture, 
and furnished three-fifths of the produce of all the French West India 
colonies, amounting in value to more than $50,000,000, and consumed, 
of French manufactures, $49,430,000.1 The Spanish part of the 
island employed in agriculture only 15,000 slaves. § 

The political troubles of St. Domingo began in 1790, between the 
mulattoes and the whites, the slaves remaining industrious, quiet, and 
orderly. But in August, 1792, the slaves joined in the rebellion, and 
the massacre of the whites was commenced. The most dreadful 
scenes of cruelty and bloodshed continued to be enacted until 1801, 
when a constitution was adopted, and the island, under the name of 
Hayii, formally proclaimed an independent neutral power. At the 
close of this year, Bonaparte made an effort to reconquer the island, 
and, in order to succeed, the French general, Le Clerc, first attempted 
to restore the planters to their former authority over the negroes, 
many of whom, in the preceding strujigles, had been granted their 
freedom; but, failing in this, he was forced, as a last resort, on the 
25th of April, 1802, to "proclaim liberty and equality to all the in- 
habitants, without regard to color." The Haytien chieftains, Touis- 
sant, Dessalines, Christophe, &c., being immediately deserted by the 
blacks, were forced to submit, and tlie French sovereignty was again 
recognized throughout Ilayti. As a first step to deprive the people 
of their efficient leaders, Le Clerc seized Touissant and his family, in 
the night, about the middle of May, and hurried them on board a ves- 
sel, which sailed immediately for France.^ This act of perfidy at 
once aroused the population to resistance, and the French, after a loss 
of 40,000 men, by disease and war, were compelled to capitulate, 
Nov., 1803, and, with a remnant of the army, of only 8,000 men, 
beg leave to depart from the island. Dessalines now assumed the 
authority, and a general massacre of the remaining French inhabitants 
took place.** 

From this period, 1803, dates the independence of Hayti. Its 
population was, at this time, 348,000.tt Christophe was declared 
king in 1811. Petion succeeded him and died in 1818, when Boyer 
came into power and annexed the Spanish part of the Island. From 
this period until 1843, when Boyer abdicated, the Island enjoyed a 
fair degree of tranquihty. The legislation was rigidly directed to 

* Westminster Rev., 1^50, p. 261. t Macgregor, p. 1152. 
% Blackwood's Mag., 18j8, p. 6. § Macgregor, p. 1152. 

If Confined to a loathsome dungeon, he died the next year. 
** See Life of Benjamin Lundy, and also Macgregor. 
tt Macgregor, p. 1152. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 9 

secure the industry of the inhabitants, but with little success as we 
shall see. 

In 1848, the whole of the slaves in the remaining French colonies 
were emancipated by a decree of the Republic. Their population, 
including free persons and slaves, we find stated as follows :* 



Colonies. 


Free. 


Slaves. 

75,330 
89,349 
62,154 


Colonies; 


Free. 


Slaves. 


Martinique, ..(1846), 
Gaudaloupe,. . .(do), 

Bourban, (do), 

Nossi Be and 
Nossi Cumba, . (do). 


47,352 
40,428 
45,512 


Nossi Fall! and 
Nossi Mitsou, (1846), 
St. Mary Mag- 
dalene (do), 

Senegal (1845), 

Algiers, (estimate). 


14,512 

3,465 
8,427 


7,698 

2,415 
10,113 
10,000 


Total, 








159,696 


257,059 













We are now enabled to state the amount of the colored popula- 
tion, in the English and French colonies, to whom freedom has 
been secured, and upon whom, since their emancipation, free labor 
tropical cultivation has devolved. It was as follows : 

British West Indies, . . . 1834, 700,000 

Hayti 1804, 348,000 

Other French Colonies, 1848, 25 7,000 

Total, 1,305,000 

Here we shall terminate our preliminary historical retrospect and 
proceed to demonstrate our first proposition, which is this : 

I. That free labor, in tropical and semi-tropical countries, is failing 
to furnish to the markets of the world, in anything like adequate 
quantities, those commodities upon which slave labor is chiefly 
employed. 

We shall commence with the British West Indies. The following 
table embraces the exports from Jamaica alone. We cannot ascer- 
tain the amount export»d from the whole English West India col- 
onies, including the period of the slave trade. But as Jamaica is 
much the largest and most important Island, and as nearly the same 
results have followed in all the islands, it may justly be taken as the 
type of the whole, and as fully exhibiting the influence which the 
legislation of the mother country, on the subject of the slave trade 
and slavery, in its several stages of progress, has exerted upon her 
own commerce and manufactures, and upon the prosperity of the 
colonies. The quantities stated are the average annual exports for 
periods oi five years each, embracing the last five years of the slave 
trade, the last five of slavery, and the first five of freedom. \ We 

*Auti-Slavery Reporter. 

tWhere the sugar is given in hogsheads, we have reduced it to pounds, esti- 
mating the hhd. at 16[)0 lbs. nett. 



10 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



are also enabled to bring down the results to the close of 1848, 
including the three last years separately. 



Years of Exports. 


lbs Sugar. P. Rum. 


lbs Coffee. 


Ann. Value. 


Ann. average, 1803 to 1807* 

" 1829 to 1833* 

1839 to 1843* 

" exports 1846t 

1847t 
" " 1848t 


211,139,200 
152,504,800 
67,924,800 
57,956,800 
77,686,400 
67,539,200 


50,426 
35,505 
14,185 
14,395 
18,077 
20,194 


23,625,377 
17,645,602 
7,412,498 
6,047,150 
6,421,122 
5,684,921 


$19,26.3,105 

13,957,390 

6.066,420 









*Blackwood's Mag., 1848, p. 225. 

fLittel's Living Age, 1850, iS^o. 309, p. 125. — Letters of Mr. Bigelow. 

We add also the exports from British Guiana, because it includes 
the article of cotton, and exhibits the decline in its production.* 



Years. 


lbs, Sugar. 


Pun. Rum. 


Ck-s. Molas. 


lbs. Cotton. 


Coffee, lbs. JDutch, 


1827 
1830 
1833 
1836 
1839 
1843 


113,868,800 
111,248,200 
101,404,000 
91,427,200 
61,585,600 
57,180,800 


22,362 
32,939 
17,824 
24,202 
16,070 
8,296 


28,226 
21,189 
44,508 
37,088 
12,134 
24,937 


6,361,600 
2,169,200 
1,479,600 
1,278,400 
541,600 
9,600 


8,063,752 
9,502,756 
5,704,482 
4,801,352 
1,583,250 
1,428,100 



The rate at which the cultivation of cotton has declined in the 
Britisli West Indies, is indicated by the imports of that article from 
them into England, in the periods stated below, t 



1829 


leso 


1831 


1SS:2 


18:33 


1831 


1S40* 


4,640,414 


3,449,247 


2,401,685 


2,040,428 


2,084,826 


2,296,525 


427,529 



*McQueen, see Lecture, 1. p. 37. 
The total amount of the imports of sugar ajnd coffee, into England, 
from all her West India Colonies, but not embracing the period of 
the slave trade, were as follows ::|: 



Years of importation. 



Ann. aver, in the 5 yrs, 1827 to 1831, 
<< « « " 1832 to 1836, 

« " « " 18.37 to 1841, 

» " " « 1842 to 1846, 

In the year 1847, 

•' 1848.§ 



lbs. Sugar. 



448,765,520 
411,869,056 
313,570,144 
277,252,400 
358,379,952 
313,306,112 



26,670,601 
19,904,530 
13,473,389 
7,985,153 
6,770,792 



• Blackwood's Mag., 1848, p. 225. fSee table of imports, p. 16, of this Lecture 
tWestminster Review, 1850, p. 279. ^London Quar. Review, 1850, p. 97. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



11 



"111 1831 the British West India Colonies produced 459,622,600 
lbs. of sugar;" being nearly eleven millions of pounds more than ihe 
average of that and the preceding four years. This amount seems to 
have been sufficient for the home consumption, because the importa- 
tion of 65,320,192 lbs. of foreign sugar, during that year, was for 
re-export onhi.* But in 1848, such had been the increased con- 
sumption of that article, in the seventeen years which had elapsed, 
that the imports of sugar amounted to 760,604,416 lbs., of which 
there was taken for consumption 690,213,552 Ibs.t Of this amount 
the British West Indies supplied only 313,306,1 12 lbs,t and 229,748,- 
096 lbs. were of foreign slave grown sugar.§ We shall here close 
our statements in relation to the failure of free labor cultivation in 
the British West India Colonies, and turn to those of France, 

The following statistical table of exports from Hayti,l| tells, but 
too forcibly, the results of emancipation upon the commercial pros- 
perity of that Island, and shows the magnitude of tlie loss sustained 
by France in having this colony wrested from her. It includes the 
exports of the three principal products from 1789 to 1841. 



Years. 


lbs. Sugar. 


lbs. Coffee. 


1I)S. Cotton. 


Remarks. 


1789 


141,089,931 


76,835,219 


7,004,274 


Island tranquil. 


1790 


163,318,810 


68,151,180 


6,286,126 


Wh'sandMul. atwar. 


1801 


18,534,112 


43,420,270 


2,480,340 


Slaves freed in 1793. 


1813 


5,443,765 


26,065,200 


474,118 


Boyer in power. 


1819 


3,790,300 


29,240,919 


216,103 


" « 


1820 


2,517,289 


35,137,759 


346,839 


" " 


1821 


600,934 


29,925.951 


820,563 


" " 


1822 


200,451 


24,235,372 


592,368 


« tt 


1823 


14,920 


33,802,837 


332,256 


" " 


IS24 


5,106 


44,269,084 


1,028,045 


" '* 


1825 


2,020 


36,034,300 


815,697 


" " 


1826 


32,864 


32,189,784 


620,972 


" " 


1835 


1,097 


48,352,371 


1,649,717 


Ex's for whole Island. 


1836 


16,199 


37,662,672 


1,072,555 


" " 


1837 




30,845,400 


1,013,171 


" " 


1838 




49,820,241 




« a 


1839 




7,889,092 


1,635,420 


t< « 


1840 


741 


46,126,272 


922,575 


Republic. 


1841 


1,363 


34,114,717 


1,591,454 


" 


1848 


very little 


33,600,000t 







*No statement yet received, f Campbell, Arnott & Co. 

The assertion of Independence by the people of Hayti, and the 
almost immediate abandonment of sugar cultivation in the Island, at 
once deprived France of three-lifths of her colonial imports of that 
article. To supply the deficiency, the Emperor Napoleon made the 
attempt, on a grand scale, to produce beet-root sugar in France itself. 
But this experiment did not meet the public wants, and the cultivation 

^London Quar. Review, 1850, p. 97. jlh. p. 88. Jib. p. 97. §Ib. p 88. 

TfMacgregor, London Ed. 1847. 



12 Present Felations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

of sugar, by slave labor, was necessarily rapidly increased in ihe 
remaining French colonies. The s^lave trade being actively prose- 
cuted at that period, it aflbrded a full supply of slaves to the French 
planters, and the exports of sugar, from her remaining colonies, must 
have rapidly increased, as we find, that in the first nine montlis of 
1847, they had increased to an amount exceeding by five millions 
and a half of pounds, the exports from Hayti^ for the whole year, 
in 1790. 

The effects of the recent emancipation of her slaves by the French 
Republic* bids fair to prove as disastrous to the commerce of her col- 
onies and to the interests of France, as were the lesults of the rebel- 
lion of Hayti. We find it stated, in the current news of the day, 
that, " according to oflicial data, the amount of sugar imported into 
France, from her colonies in Guiana, the West Indies, and the Island 
of La Reunion, has fallen from 168,884,177 lbs., the quantity im- 
ported during the first nine months of 1847, to 96,929,336 lbs., for 
ihe same period of the year 1849, being a falling ofi', for the nine 
months, of 71,854,841 lbs. 

We wish here to state distinctly that our leading object in pre- 
senting, so fully the evidences of the failure of free labor tropical 
cultivation, is not to prove that slavery should not be abolished ; be- 
cause that would involve the absurdity of insisting, that one-third the 
world should be enslaved, to secure to the other two-thirds tlieir 
cofiee, sugar, and cotton, at a reduced price. But our aim is to 
impress the great truth on the mind of the christian \)i\h\\c, that mere 
personal freedom is insttfficioit to elevate and ennoble an zinen- 
lightened people, and that intellectual and moral cidtxire should 
accompany all emancipation schemes, otherwise they must fail in 
the accomplishment of the great good which personal freedom, 
under other circumstances, secures to man. 

Having now presented the principal instances where free labor lias 
failed in tropical cultivation, r(pon territory formerly employing slave 
labor, we may pause and state the extent of that failure, so far as to 
include the articles of coffee, cotton, and sugar. But as we have not 
had access to any statement of the exports from the whole of tlie 
British West India Islands, for the period of the slave trade, we must 
take those of Jamaica as the type of the whole. From 1807 to 1831 
the exports of sugar fell off, in Jamaica, 38,yYo P^^" cent., and that of 
coffee 33,y«p. By adding this amount to the exports from all the 
Islands in 1831, will give us their probable exports in 1807. The 
article of cotton cannot be brought under this rule, for want of accu- 
rate data, previous to 1829. 

The deficit of free labor tropical cultivation, as compared with 
slave labor while sustained by the slave trade, including the territorial 
limits upon which England and France have liberated their bondsmen, 
stands as follows : — a slarding result, truly, to those who expected 
emancipation to work well commercially. 

*rresent Lecture p. 19. 



Present lielalions of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 13 
Contrast of Slave Labor and Free Labor Exports from the West Indies. 



Slave Labor. 


Years. 


lbs. Sugar. 


lbs. Coffee. 


lbs. Cotton 


British West Indies, 

Hayti 


1807 

1790 


636,025,043 

163,318,810 


31,610,764 
76,835,219 


4,640,414* 
7,286,126 




Total, 




809,344,453 


108,245,983 


11,926,540 






Free Lalior 

British West Indies 

Hayti,. 


1848 
1848 


313,.306,112 
very little 


6,770,792 
34,114,717t 


427,529+ 
l,591,454t 




Total, 




313,306,112 


40,885,509 


2,018,983 






Free Labor Deficit 




496,038,341 


67,360,474 


9,907,557 



»1829. +1840. il847. 

We have not included the French Islands emancipated in 1848, 
because the information possessed in relation to them is not suffi- 
ciently accurate. When tlie decline of free labor, in them, reaches 
its maximum, at least another 100,000,000 lbs. of sugar must be 
added to the sum of free labor failures.* 

To understand the bearing which this decrease of production, by 
Free Labor, has upon the interests of the African people, it nmst be 
remembered tliat the consumption of sugar has not diminished, but 
increased, vastly, and that for every hogshead that free labor sugar is 
diminished, a hogshead of slave labor sugar is demanded to supply 
its place ; and more than this : for every additional hogshead de- 
manded by the increased consumption of sugar, an additional one, of 
slave labor production, m?/sf he furnished, because the world will not 
do without sugar. It must be noticed, also, that, at the present 
moment, the greater portion of all this double demand for sugar, falls 
upon the people of color. It seems to be a settled rule, that if the 
African race will not supply to the world its sugar, by voluntary 
labor, receiving for themselves all the profits on its production; then 
the world compels them to do it, by compulsory labor, and votes the 
whole profits to the white man who applies the whip that stimu- 
lates them to industry. 

These remarks will apply to coffee and cotton, also, or to anv 
other exportable tropical commodity upon which slave labor is em- 
ployed. We now close our investigations in relation to our first pro- 
position, believing that we have fully demonstrated its truthfulness, 
and shall proceed to the second. 



*See our liCctures on African Colonization and Civilization, for our views of 
the causes of the failure of the type of free labor which exists in the West 
Indies. 



14 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

II. That Christian governments, at the present moment, are compelled, 
from necessity, to consume slave labor products to a large extent, 
and thus still continue to aid in extending and perpetuating slavery 
and the slave trade. 

The discussion of our first proposition closed with a statement of 
the deficit of free labor tropical cultivation, within the territorial limits 
upon which the emancipation of the slaves, formerly held in bondage 
by England and France, had been effected. 

In discussinof the second proposition, we shall first ascertain the 
extent of the consumption of tropical commodities, by the three gov- 
ernments most deeply interested in the questions of slavery and die 
slave trade, (England, France, and the United States,) and then the 
sources from which their supplies are obtained, and the proportions 
that are the product of free labor or of slave labor. And, first, of 
Cotton : 

The manufacture of raw cotton into fabrics for clothing, was intro- 
duced into England at an early period ; but it was confined cliiefiy to 
operatives in famdies, until about 1785, when the discovery of the 
power of steam, and the improvements in machinery, gave to manu- 
facturing industry an impulse that has extended it with almost mirac- 
ulous rapidity. 

The best information that can be gained from the English custom- 
house books, gives from one to two millions of pounds of cotton as 
the amount annually imported between 1697 and 1751. In 1764, 
the imports had reached 3,870,000 lbs., and in 1784, over 11,480,000 
pounds.* 

Previous to 1795, the supplies of cotton were obtained by England 
from the West Indies, South America, India, and the Levant.! It 
was not until 1791, that any cotton was shipped to England from the 
United States. In this year, 189,316 lbs. were sent over, and in the 
year following only 138,328 Ibs.J 

The importation of cotton into England maintained a nearly equal 
annual progressive increase, from 1784 to 1805, when it had reached 
60,000,000 lbs., and in 1817, near 125,000,000 lbs., a small part of 
which (8,156,000 lbs.) was re-exported. § 

The quantity of cotton consumed by Great Britain, from 1817, the 
period Inst stated, to 1836, is embraced in the following table, which 
is extracted from that very able work, Porter's Progress of the 
Nation. That from 1840 to 1849 is also added, and is taken from a 
vry elaborate and valuable article in the London Economist,!! a pe- 
riodical that h;is no superior for accuracy. The whole table is one 
of ..real value in our discussion, and presents the important fact, that 



* McCiillou(rh's account of British Empire, Vol. I, p. 643. 

t lb., p. 64.^. t lb., p. 648. 

§ McCulloii^rh, Vol. I, p. 649. 

II Supplement to Loudon Economist, Jan. 5, 1850. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



15 



the consumption of cotton in England, in 1849, was 624,000,000 lbs.* 
The imports for the year reached 755,469,008 lbs.; of which there 
were re-exported 98,89;i,536 lbs., leaving for home consumption 
656,575,47:i lbs.,t of which only the quantity above stated was 
used within the year. 

Table exhihiling the quantity of Cotton annually consumed in England, from 
1818 to lS38,t and from 1840 to 1849. § 



Years. 


Cotton, lbs. 


Year. 


Cotton, lbs. 


Years. 


Cotton, lbs. 


1818 


109,902,000 


1828 


217,860,000 


1840 


517,254,400 


1819 


109,518,000 


1829 


219,200,000 1 


1841 


460,387,200 


1820 


129,265,000 


1830 


247,600,000 ! 


1842 


477,339,200 


1821 


129,029,000 


1831 


262,700,000 1 


1843 


555,2] 4,400 


1822 


145,493,000 


1832 


276,900,000 i 


1844 


570,731,200 


1823 


154,146,000 


1833 


287,000,000 


1845 


626,496,000 


1824 


165,174,000 


1834 


303,000,000 t 


1846 


624,000,000 


1825 


166,831,000 


1835 


326,407,692 1 


1847 


442,416,000 


182G 


150,213,000 


1836 


363,684,2;J2 ■■ 


1848 


602,160,000 


1827 


197,200,000 


1838* 


460,000,000 


1849 


624,000,000 



* Lectures of George Tliompson, Esq., Euglaiiil. 1339, |i. 03. 

The cotton consumed in the United States, in 1848, including an 
estimate of that manufactured in the cotton-growing States, and in 
those along the tributaries of the Mississippi, estimating the bales at 
400 lbs. each, was •260,000,000 lbs.|| Our average annual increased 
consumption of cotton is 14,000,000 Ibs.,^ which, for 1849, will aug- 
ment die quantity consumed in the United States to 274,000,000 lbs. 

'i'he consumption of cotton in France, in 1832, was 68,725,901 lbs., 
and in 1833, 72,767,551 lbs.** The exports from the United States 
to France, in 1849, were 151,340,001) lbs. ft The whole amount 
delivered for consumption that year was 156,000,000 lbs., of which 
147,000,000 lbs. were from the United States, and the remaining 
9,000,000 lbs. from other countries,}! — from Brazil, say 3,000,000 lbs. 

The whole amount of cotton taken for consumption, in 1849, in 
the remaining continental countries, was 129,920,000 lbs., of which 
128,800,000 lbs. were from the United Slates, §§ leaving of that from 
other countries, only 1,020,000 lbs. 

The consumption of cotton from the United Slates, on the whole 
continent of Europe, now reaches 280,000,000 lbs.|||| 



* III the table of the Economist, published before the whole consumption of 
1S49 had been ascertained, it is estimated at 659,984,000 lbs., the editor having 
taken, as his data, the consumption of the first eleven months of the year. Sub- 
sequently, the actual quantity was ascertained and published, and we have 
changed the figures to the true amount. 

t London Economi.st, 1850, p. 195. ^ Porter's Progress of the Nation. 

§ Supplement to the London Economist, Jan. 1850, p. 36. 

II New Orleans Bulletin. 

7 Supplement to London Economist, Jan. 1850, p. 35. 

** Porter's Progress. i* Loudon Economist, 1850, p. 103. 

tt See present Lecture, p. 20. |||| Sup to L Econ., Jan. 1850, p. 35. 

§§ London Econ,, 1850, p. 103. 



16 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

We are now prepared to state tlie amount of cotton, from all 
sources, actually consumed by the United Stales and Europe, in 
1849. It was as follows : 

Great Britain, lbs. . 624,000,000 

France and other Continental countries, . . . 285,920,000 

The United States, 270,000,000 

Total Cotton Consumption, lbs. 1,179,920,000 

The next point of inquiry is, Whence are these supplies of cotton 
obtained? " Next to the United Stales, but at a very great distance 
from them, Brazil, tlie East Indies, and Egypt, are the countries which 
furnish the largest supplies of cotton for exportation." * The ad- 
vantages possessed by the United States, in the growing of cotton, 
and the superior qualities of our staple, render it difKcult, if not 
impossible, for the other countries producing that article, to compete 
with us in its cultivation. Tlie subjoined table is full of instruction 
on this subject. 

Imports of Cotton into Great Britain, during each of the six years, ending with 
1834, specifying the countries whence imported, the re-exports, and quantity left 
for consumption.^ 



Countries whence 
Imported. 

Germany, Holland, ) 

Belgium, 5 

Portugal, Proper, 

Italy and Italian Islands, 

Malta, 

Turkey and Continent- ) 

al Greece, J 

Egypt. (Ports on Med- ) 

iterranean.) ) 

Mauritius, 

East Indies and Ceylon, 

Philipine Islands, •• 

British N. A. Colonies,- 

British West Indies, 

Hayti, 

Cuba and other foreign ) 

West Indies. J 

U. Slates of America,- 

Colombia, 

Brazil. 

Chill & Riode la Plata. 
Various other countries, 
Peru, 



Total imported, • 
Amount exported 



Left for consumption. 



• fil,2S4 

• 91.905 



50.599 



. Ki.Oll 
■ 32 419 
040.414 
14y,U-)8 
iy8.S96 

.ls7 ■■0)6 
097.504 

.b78,:i80 

-- 1.93) 
• 09,378 



1830. 



• 85,907 
15 

• 27.073 
353.077 



-•■.14.050 

• 12,481.701 
....•,>9.67a 

2.473 

- -3.429.^47 

• • • 100,-,i60 

• ••.10,174 
21 0.f 85.358 

• • - 221.381 

• 33.092,072 

4,063 

• • • 45,0-J9 



222 707,411 203.901.4.52 
.30.2i?9.1l5r-s.o34.976 



192.478.296,255,420.47 



• 35.040 
643.695 



•7,714,474 



25,^05.1.53 
8.420 

• •310.011) 

• 2,400 085 

• •251,179 



219,333.028 

• •-.3)4.091 

• 31,095.701 
10,024 

........no 

57.027 



1832. 



59.050 
. 21 ;7o9 

■ 28.003 



1833. 



943.3S1 
• 15.70^ 

■ 17.298 
433,898 



8 824,111 ••• 553,304 



35,178.625 •3-',755.l64 

• ••40.879 37 90S 

7,158 •••145.520 

■2 040 428 ••2,0!-4.802 

• ••59,413 •••389.791 



•314 



219.750.753 2:37,596 758 

■ ■ ■ 293,002: • • ■ 305,0:i3 
• 20.109.500 

■ ■ ■ . ■ 3,729 
1.440 

■ ■■ -1,194 



283.074 853 't'Sr. 832.525 
-22.30:^.556 -18 027,940 



206.3C6.29bl208.S04.585 



3,403.t21 

378 

38 



1834. 



- 5.524 

!-J6,4-58 



■ 444,437 



3 332 

• ■2.290.525 

• • ■ 2^3,004 
3.794 



>e9.203.075 

• 1 004.840 
19,201.396 

. • ■ ■ 75.257 

• • 154:839 
4.053 



;92.9^55 302.413.462 



The following table, added to the above, affords all the information 
that is necessary to a full understanding of the question, whence the 
supplies of cotton are obtained : 



McCuUough, Vol. 1, p. 651. + lb. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



17 



Imports of cotton into Great Britain, from all foreign countries, presenting the an- 
nual average during periods of five years, from 1830 to 1849, inclusive.* 



Years. 


Miscellaneous.! 


Brazil. 

59,590,800 
51,474,800 
37,698,000 
39,654,800 


F.gypt. 


East Indies. 


United States. 


1830 to 18.34 
1835 to 18.39 
1840 to 1844 
1845 to 1849 


5,510,000 
12,909,600 
9,430.800 
3,586,400 


7,959,000 
13,842,400 
16,6.33,200 
17,967,200 


32,318,000 
57,612,000 
93,383,600 
71,940,800 


247,356,400 
344,688,800 
464,226,400 
734,244,560 i 



When the cotton of the United States had been fairly tested in 
England, it was found to be very much superior to that from the East 
Indies. The seed of our cotton was, therefore, introduced into India, 
and its cultivation so far succeeded, as to warrant the belief that, with 
proper encouragement from government, it might be grown in any 
quantities. In 1839, a vigorous effort was made, headed by George 
Thompson, Esq., § to enlist Parliament in the enterprise. It was 
urged that all the elements of successful cotton cukivation existed in 
the East Indies, and that the English nation might soon obtain its 
supplies of cotton from that country, and repudiate that of the United 
States. 

The introduction to the American edition of the Lectures delivered 
by Thompson on that occasion, which was written by Wm. Lloyd 
Garrison, contains the following sentences. || They sufficiently indi- 
cate what were the anticipations of the advocates of the measure : 

" If England can raise her own cotton in India, at the paltry rate 
nf a penny a pound, what inducement can she have to obtain her 
supply from a rival nation, at a rate six or eight times higher? It is 
stated that East India free labor costs three pence a day — African 
slave labor, two shillings ; that upward of 800,000 bales of cotton 
;>.fe exported from the United States, annually, to England; and that 
ihe cotton trade of die United States with England amounts to the 
enormous sum of $40,000,000 annually. Let that market be closed 
to this slaveholding Republic, and its slave system must inevitably 
perish from starvation ! " 

Mr. Thompson, throughout the whole course of his lectures, seems 
not to doubt the success of East India cotton cultivation, and also that of 
sugar and coffee, and thai the result would be the destruction of the slave 
trade, and the downfall of slavery everywhere. He thus exclaims :^ 

" The batde-ground of freedom for the world is on the plains of 
Hindostan. Yes, my friends, do jristice to India; wave (here the 
scepter of justice, and the rod of oppression falls from the hands 
of the slaveholder in America ; and the slave, swelling beyond the 



* Supplement to the London Economist, 1850, pp. 34, 35. — Bales estimated at 
400 lbs. each. 

tCiiiffly the British Colonies. 

* We have substituted the average imports of 1848 and 1849, from the United 
States, instead of from 1845 to 1849, because it gives a nearer approximation to 
the truth. 1847, in the U. S., made only three-fourths of a crop, and it was 
tlie year of famine in Great Britain. 



§ The great Abolitionist. 

9 



II Lecture by George Thompson, Esq., 
IT Lecture, page 121. 



1839. 



18 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

measure of his chains, stands disenthralled, a free man, and an 
acknowledged brother ! " 

We need not trace the history of this effort to promote the cultiva- 
tion of cotton in India. It is of such recent occurrence, that all 
intelligent men are familiar with the results. Paragraphs like the 
following frequently meet the eye of the general reader. It is taken 
from a reliable periodical. 

"Late accounts from India [through the English press,] represent 
that the attempts of the British capitalists, during the last two or 
three years, to cultivate cotton in the district of Dharwar, from which 
much was expected, have signally failed. In 1847-8, about 20,000 
acres were cultivated. It is now ascertained that the crop has rapidly de- 
creased, only 4,000 acres having been under cultivation the past year." 
It is unnecessary to discuss the causes operating in the East 
Indies, to make it impossible to stimulate its free laborers much 
beyond their wonted rules of industry. Our views upon this ques- 
tion will be found in our two former lectures, where we present the 
causes of the failure of West India free labor. We need but state, 
here, that the East Indies have only a Pagan civilization, which has 
long since attained its full maturity. Any efforts, therefore, aside from 
the'' introduction of Christianity, and a Christian civilization, or 
the reduction of the population to slavery, must fail in securing a 
much greater degree of industry than exists at present. If left to 
their own free will, all attempts to introduce improvements in agri- 
culture and manufactures, will probably result like the following effort 
made to improve their mode of plowing. Under the head of " Cot- 
ton in India," the London Times of the present year, says : 

"The one great element of American success — of American en- 
terprise — can never, at least for many generations, be imparted to 
India. It is impossible to expect of Hindoos all that is achieved by 
citizens of the States. During the experiments to which we have 
alluded, an English plow was introduced into one of the provinces, 
and the natives were taught its use and superiority over their own 
clumsy machinery. They were at first astonished and delighted at 
its effects, but as soon as the agent's back was turned, they took it, 
painted it red, set it up on end, and worshipped it." 

Another anecdote, confirmatory of the impossibility of effecting a 
change of habits in the people of India, was told by the Rev. J. H. 
Morrison, missionary in India, during his late visit to this country. 
An English gentleman, resident in India, had commenced an improve- 
ment, rliquiring the removal of a large quantity of earth. Employing 
native laborers, they commenced the task in their usual way, by car- 
rying the earth to the place of deposit, in baskets, upon their heads. 
Pitying them, and wishing to facilitate the work, he had a number 
of wheelbarrows constructed, and taken upon the ground. Showing 
the laborers how to use them, ther appeared pleased with the nov- 
elty, and worked briskly. Gratified that he had relieved them from 
a toilsome system of labor, the gendeman left them to pursue their 
work. But on returning some days afterwards, hu was astonished 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 19 

and mortified, to see them filling their Avheelbarrows, and then, lifting 
the whole burden upon their heads, deliberately carrying it off as they 
had done their baskets. Such is Pagan stupidity and Pagan attach- 
ment to custom. 

The successful cultivation of cotton in the United States, and the 
better adaptation of the lands in Cuba and Brazil, to the production 
of sugar and coffee, has led the planters of these two countries to 
devote their labor chiefly to the production of the last named com- 
modities. The preceding tables of imports into England, (page 16,) 
proves the truth of this statement, and shows a great diminution in 
the production of cotton, except in the United States, In reviewing 
the results in the several cotton-growing countries, the London Econ- 
omist remarks : "^ 

" From Brazil, therefore, our annual supply has diminished nearly 
20,000,000 lbs. ; or if we compare the two extreme years of the 
series, 1830 and 1848, the falling off is from 76,906,800 lbs. to 
40,097,600 lbs. or 36,800,000 lbs. 

" The supply from Egypt, however, seems to have reached its 
maximum in 1845, in which year we received 32,537,600 lbs. This 
year it does not reach half lh;it amount. Moreover, this country, 
from the peculiar circumstances of its government, is little to be 
relied upon, — the supply having varied from 16,116,000 lbs. in 1832, 
to 1,027,600 lbs. in 1833 ; and again, from 7,298,000 lbs. in 1842, 
to 26,400,000 lbs. in 1844. 

" For many years it was the custom of the Pacha of Egypt, to 
require a certain amount of cotton from his tenants, or, in fact, to 
compel them to pay the whole, or a fixed portion of their rent, in 
cotton. Under this forcing system, the cultivation was extensively 
introduced. Of late years, however, the Fellahs have been allowed 
to grow the article, or not, at their option ; and such is their natural 
indolence and want of enterprise, that even where they still continue 
the growth, they do so in a very careless manner, t 

" Our supply from the East Indies varies enormously, from 36,- 
000,000 lbs. to 108,000,000 lbs. per annum, inasmuch as ive only 
receive that proportion of the crop lohich our prices may divert from 
China, or from internal consumption. 

" 'i'he summary of our supply, from all these quarters combined, is : 
1830 to 1834, 105,410,400 lbs. | 1840 to 1844, 157,145,600 lbs. 
1835 to 1839, 136,088,000 lbs. | 1845 to 1849, 133,120,800 lbs. 

" The result of this inquiry, then, is, that our average annual sup- 
ply from all quarters, except the United States, was, in the five years 
ending 1849, less by 2,943,200 lbs. than in the five years ending 
1839, and less by 24,000,000 lbs. than in the five years ending 1844. 
Of this diminished supply, moreover, we have been exporting an 
increasing quantity, averaging, annually, in the last five years, 31,- 
680,000 lbs. against 27,360,000, annually, in the previous five years." 

* Supplement to Jan. 5, 1850, p. 34. f lb. p. 38. 



20 



Present Relaiions of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



The imports of cotton into the United States, mostly from the 
Dutch West Indies, is very inconsiderable in amount, being, for 1848, 
only 317,742 lbs., or less than 800 bags, of which 51,000 lbs. were 
re-exported. 

Tlie exports of cotton from the United States, affords the key to 
the chief source of supply of that article to European countries. 

Exports of Cotton from the United States, to Foreign Countries, for the years 1846, 
1847, 1848, and 1849, the 7jears ending June 30.* 



Whither Exported. 



Russia, 

Prussia, 

Sweden and Norway,. . . 

Denmark, 

Hanse towns, 

Holland, 

Belgium, 

England, 

Scotland, 

Ireland, 

Gibralter, 

British Amer. Colonies,. 
France on the Atlantic, 
" Mediterranean, 

Spain, 

Cuba, 

Portugal, 

Italy, 

Sardinia, 

Trieste and Austrian port; 

Mexico, 

Cent. Repub. of America, 
China and South Seas, . . 



Total, lbs. 
Value,. . . . 



1,292,680 



2,555,788 

32,287 

7,543,017 

3,849,859 

7,408,422 

326,365,971 

13,312,850 

6,379,746 

1,054,310 

47,380 

124,185,369 

7,867,480 

117,885 

10,102,969 

19,533 

11,212,093 

2,387,264 

13,382,043 

4,392 828 



85,760 



547,558,055 
$42,767,341 



5,618,365 



2,887,693 

660,732 

10,889,543 

1,978,324 

10,184,348 

338,153,564 

12,683,738 

424,497 

90,199 

226,493 

98,421,966 

4,695,492 

12,313,658 

3,139,156 



8,720,718 
4,494,594 
11,780,673 



848,998 



527,219,95i:< 
.$53,415,884 



Lbs.— 1848. 



10,266,911 

116,523 

4,978,024 

69,020 

17,420,498 

4,851,509 

15,279,676 

546,911,132 

25,091,965 



133,202 

22,352 

129,263,272 

7,034,583 

19,323,425 

4,557,474 

774 

6,077,621 

2,514,364 

20,643,690 



12,953 



814,274,431 
$61,998,294 



Lbs.— 1849' 



10,650,631 



7,030,305 

4,779 

13,844,494 

11,877,386 

28,113,309 

696,669,474 

38,706,884 

3,968,547 

5,725,812 

97,104 

144,481,949 

6,858,283 

23,285,804 

1,584,784 

240,895 

10,604,462 

6,053,707 

13,279,384 

2,208,704 

524,721 

760,861 

1026,602,269 

$66,396,976 



We must bring this discussion of the cotton question to a close. 
If we take the table of imports into England,! as the guide, it will 
be seen that she was importing, annually, during the last period 
named, ending with 1849, the following proportions of slave labor 
and oi free labor cotton : 

The product of Slave labor. 

From Brazil, 39,654,800 lbs. 

From United States, .... 734,244,560 " 

773,899,360 lbs. 

The product of Free labor. 

From Egypt, 17,967,200 lbs. 

From East Indies, 71,940,800 " 

From Miscellaneous, .... 3,586,400 



93,494,400 " 



England's excess of imports of slave labor cotton, 680,404,960 



* Reports of Sec. of Treas. of U. S. on Commerce and Navigation- 
+ Present Lecture, p. 17. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 21 

The actual consumption of cotton, by England, in 1849, as before 
stated, was 624,000,000 lbs. Of the imports of 133,149,200 lbs. * 
cotton not the growth of the United States, there were re-exported 
31,680,000 lbs.,t leaving thereof, for consumption in England, 101,- 
469,200 lbs. Deducting this amount from the quantity consumed in 
1849, leaves 522,530,800 lbs. as the amount of England's consump- 
tion of cotton derived from the United States. 

But of the 101,469,200 lbs. above named, at least 30,000,000 lbs. 
must have been from Brazil, and consequently of slave labor origin, 
leaving for the English manufacturer, only 71,469,200 lbs. of free 
labor cotton. 

The result of this investigation may now be stated thus : 
Slave Labor Cotton consumed in 1849. 
By England, from Brazil, . . 30,000,000 lbs. 
By England, from United States, 522,530,800 " 
By France,^ from United States, 147,000,000 " 
By France, from Brazil, say, 3,000,000 " 

Bv other continental countries, 

Vrom United States, . . . 128,800,000 " 
By United States, growth of 

United States, 270,000,000 " 

Total slave labor consumption, 1,101,330,800 lbs. 

Free lAibor Cotton consumed in 1849. 
By England, from all sources, 71,469,200 lbs. 

By France, say, 6,000,000 " 

By other continental countries, || 1,120.000 " 

Total free labor consumption, 78,5 89,200 lbs. 

Grand total cotton consumption, 1,179,920,000 " 

That this exhibit of the cotton question is not an exaggerated 
statement, got up for effect, but is within the limits of the truth, wdl 
appear evident when the extent of the production of cotton is taken 
into consideration. By the Custom House books of commercial 
nations, all imports and exports of merchandise are easily ascertained. 

The following statement, embracing only the quantity of cotton 
consumed in the United States and exported from it, and the amount 
imported into England from other countries than the United Stales, 
in 1849, will be sufficient for our purpose. 

Exports of cotton from the United States, . . 1,026,602,269 lbs. 
Amount consumed in the United States, . . . 270,000,000 " 
Amount imported into England from East Indies, 

Egypt, Brazil, &c., 133,120,800 » 

''Xotal 1,429,723,069 " 

Amount included in our estimates, . . . 1,179,920,000 " 
Surplus over our estimates, 249,803,069 " 

* See table, page 17, present Lecture. t Present Lecture, p. 19. 

\ Present Lecture, p. 15. II Loudon Economist, 1850, p. 103. 



22 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

After this exhibition of facts, we have no fears that the fairness of 
our statements will bo called in question. Indeed, a close si;rutiny 
will show that we have not pressed into the tables of slave grown 
cotton, all that we might have done. All the foreign imports of cot- 
ton, not the growth of the United States, that were not re-exported by 
England, are counted as consumed, thus reducing the proportion of 
the slave labor cotton of the United States by the amount of the 
former remaining unconsumed. We wish it also to be noticed, that 
we have included in the list of slave labor cotton consumed in Eng- 
land, in 1849, only 522,530,800 lbs. from the United Stales, while in 
that year, she imported of our cotton, 755,469,008 lbs., being an 
excess over the amount included in the quantity consumed, nearly 
equal to the surplus above slated, and proving that that surplus must 
be mostly the product of slave labor. 

We may now safely place, in contrast, the figures representing the 
proportions of Free Labor and of Slave Labor Cotton consumed by 
the United States and Europe, in 1819, and claim, that, so far as this 
commodity is concerned, our second proposition is triumphantly 
sustained. Look at the figures : 

Total slave labor cotton consumption, . . . 1,101,330,000 lbs. 
Total free labor cotton consumption, . . . 78,589.200 " 

Excess of consumption of slave labor over free 

labor cotton, 1,022,741,600 " 

Your attention is now called to the article of Coffee. As England 
occupies the most prominent position upon the subject of African 
freedom, and is making the most determined struggles to stimulate 
free labor, and make it compete with slave labor, her connection with 
this question, as with all the others, becomes one of great interest. 
Up to 1825, a discriminating duty of 56 shillings per cwt. was levied 
upon coffee from British India, for the benefit of the Englisii West 
India colonies. At that time, this duty was but little felt, because, 
owing to the excessive duty levied upon all descriptions of coffee, 
the consumption of the kingdom was below tiie supply from the 
West Indies, and the surplus had to seek a market elsewhere. In 
1825, the discriminating duly was reduced to 28 shillings the cwt. 
The duty after this time stood thus : 

West India coffee paid 6(/. per lb., or 56s. per cwt. 

East India " " 9^/. " or 84s. " 
and all other kinds were, and still are, charged Is. 3(/. per. lb., or 
I40s. per cwt., amounting to a prohibition. 

The consumption of coffee in Great Britain, after these clianges in 
the tariff, increased from 8,000,000 lbs., in 1824, to 22,000,000, in 
1830. The demand created by this increased consumption, could 

* Rep. Sec. Treas. U. S., on Commerce and Navigation. 

t Present Lecture, p. 16. J See table, p. 16, present Lecture 

II Present Lecture, p. 19. § Present Lecture, p. 15. 

If London Economist, 1850, p. 103. ** Present Lecture, p. 15. 



Present Relations of Free Labor and Slave Labor. 23 

not be supplied by the West India planters, and the price rose 39 per 
cent., so as to bring the East India coffee into use. 

At the time of the reduction of the duties. West India coffee sold 
at 90a'. the cwt., but it advanced to 1256-. without effecting an in- 
creased production. Tiie quantity annually imported from die West 
Indies, in the five years that preceded the reduction of the duty 
in 182ri, averaged 30,280,360 lbs., and from 1832 to 1836, only 
19,812,160 lbs., being a reduction of 34 per cent, in the supply, 
notwitlistanding an advance of 39 per cent, in the price. This result 
led to another modification of the coffee duties in 1835, when East 
India coffee was admitted on equal terms with that of die West Indies. 

While the duty on East India cofiee was dd. per lb., the amount 
increased, because of the increase of price of West India coffee, from 
about 300,000 lbs. a year, to 1,500,000 lbs. In 1835, the consump- 
tion of East India coffee amounted to 5,596,791 lbs., and in 1837 
reached 9,114,793 lbs.* 

The following table, embracing the whole field of the extent of 
the production and consumption of coffee, is so full and satisfactory, 
that nothing more can be needed to a clear understanding of the sub- 
ject. It was prepared in Deceudier, 1849, by Campbell, Arnott & 
Co., the great Liverpool coffee merchants, and may be relied upon 
as possessing much accuracy. 



Comparalive View of Production and Consumption of Coffee. 



COUNTRIES PRODUCING. 



Brazil, 

Java and Sumatra. 

Cuba, 

Porlo Rico, I,aguavra. and Co.sla Rica, 

St. Dom;na:o, '• 

Britisli West Indies, and Ceylon, 

Dutch West Indies.- 

French Easi and West Indies, 

Mocha, India, &o., 



Total Production, 



Deduct consuraplion ol" United Slate.s,- 
Balance for Europe, 



838. 1843. 



(i(14>0 
-Vi.-iH) 
20,160 
44-Bou, 

4.480, 



n. '-'(!().( 



12.000, 
9t.5(i0 

49.a-<o 

2-2.40>i, 
3S.080. 

ai.'j.5'j 

3..3fi0. 
8,900 
(i.T-,'0, 



000 I S3 
(10' 1 15(i 

0001 49 
(.00 -'4, 
OUO 40, 

000 

000 
00(1 
000 



JUl.7-'8OU0,3Gl,:5ia,O00 



4!).-,>8o (100 8y,(;oo,ooo 



•252.448000 27£ .7 la.OOO 



lbs 
.KiO.OOO 
-00.000 
2-0,000 
040,000 
:K0 000 
040,000 
iOO 000 
9(J0 001) 
720 000 



lbs. 
2^0,000,000 
134,4(K).U00 
22,400.000 
33.600.000 
33.G00.OOO 
38.080,000 
2 240.000 
672(1.000 
4,480,000 



ioiO.OOO 



COUNTRIES CONSUMING 



Great Britain, 

France and Iransil, and Switzerland, 

liolhiiid. IJelgium. and Germany, 

Russia. Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. •• 
Italy, Austria, Levant, Greece, and Turkey, 
Spam and Portugal, 



Total Consumption, 

Surplus on the 30lh of December,' 



23,520 000 23.312.000 
33.(>00.0(IO 36 0r>4()00 
52,320 000 190 400 000 
1 1 ,200 000 1 5.6S0,000 
34,720 ( 00 40,320 000 
0.720.000 8960,000 



•2(12.080 000 310 730 000 



31.360.000 
40.320 000 
219.520 (NIO 
22 400 000 
ol.S^iOOOO 
U,-200()0(l 

376.320 000 



3S.030.000 
44,800 000 
232 900.000 
26 860.000 
58 240,000 
13 440,000 



414,400.000 



,000.000 94.752 000 



* Porter's Progress of the Nation, Vol. II., p. 118, 119. 



24 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



In 1821, the United States consumed 11,866,063 lbs. of coffee. 
The duty was then five cents per lb. and remained at this rate until 
1831, when it was reduced to two cents, and in 1832 to one cent. 

In 1833 coffee was admitted free of duty, and has so remained 
ever since that date. 'I'he consumption of that year was 75,057.906 
lbs., to which it had gradually risen from the 11,886,000 lbs. of 1821. 
From this date, the consumption of coffee in the United Stales, had a 
rapid increase until 1847, when it had reached 150,332,992 lbs.* In 
1848 the consumption was 156,000,000 Ihs.t 

As all our investigations have reference to the question of the ex- 
tent to which Christian governments are consuming slave labor 
products, it becomes necessary to refer to the sources whence the 
coffee imported by each is obtained. It stands thus : 

England, by her discriminating duties, almost entirely excludes 
slave labor coffee, and derives nearly the whole amount of her con- 
sumption of that article from her own colonies. Of the 34,431,074 
lbs. of coffee imported for England for home consumption, 29,769,730 
lbs. were from her own colonies, and only 4,661,344 from elsewhere.il 

According to the table of Campbell, Arnott, and Co., the quantity 
of coffee produced in slave labor countries, including Brazil, the 
Dutch West Indies, Cuba, Porto Rico, &c., in 1848, was 338,240,000 
lbs., while in the remaining coffee growing countries, which were all 
free labor, (France, in tiiat year, having emancipated the slaves in her 
colonies,) the production was only 217,800,000 lbs., being less than 
that of tlie product of slave labor, by nearly one-third, or 120,440,000 
lbs. As Holland, Belgium, and Germany, consume 98,560,000 lbs. 
of coffee more than is produced in Java and Sumatra, this excess is 
probably all slave grown produce. Looking at the small product of 
the colonies of France, and her large consumption, the conclusion is, 
that the greater portion of what she uses must be the product of 
slave labor. 

The following table points to the sources whence tlie United States 
derives its coffee, and the extent to which she is dependent upon 
slave labor for that article. 

Imports of Coffee into the United States, for the year 1848. ^ 



Countries whence imported. Coffee, lbs. Countries whence imported. 



Swedish West Indies. . , . 

Danish do. do 

Dutch do. do 

Britisii do. do 

Dutch East Indies 

British do. do 

Holland 

Manilla and Phillipine Is. 

Cuba 

Other Spanish W. I 



510 

56,702 

2,001 

3,037,373 

141,077 

710,331 

2,381,773 

25,484 

2,258,710 

384,393 



Hayti 

New Granada 

Venezuela 

Brazil 

Cisplatine Republic. 

Chili 

Africa generally . . . 

Asia generally 

France on Atlantic . 



Total, 



,990,976 

328,971 

,720,613 

.6,^7,395 

507,810 

37,136 

57,567 

167.400 

1,923 



151,412,125 



»Rep. Sec. Treas. U. S., Dec. 1, 1847. -J- Campbell, Arnott, and Co. 

t Rep. Sec. Treas. on Com. fi, Nav., 1848 & 9, the year ending June 30, 184a 

II London Qr. RfV. Ajiii, 1850, 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 25 

Of the coffee imported, as above, that from Brazil, Civba, and 
other Spanish and Dutch West Indies, amounting to 114,394,214 
lbs., was all slave labor produce. Taking all the remaining imports 
as the product of free labor, and they only afford us 37,117,911 lbs., 
or a half million less than one-fourth of the amount imported. Thus 
stands the coffee question in the United States. 

From the preceding statistics it appears that the United States and 
the nations of Europe are now consuming, annually, or have as stock 
on hand, about 555,520,000 lbs. of coffee, divided as follows: 
The product of slave labor .... 338,240,000 lbs. 
The product of free labor 217,280,000 lbs. 

Difference in favor of slave labor . . 120,960,000 lbs. 

Next, and last, the article of Sugar clamis attention. "It was 
unknown to the ancients, as an article of consumption. In Europe 
it was introduced as late as the fifteenth century." The first sample 
of West India sugar was manufactured in Jamaica, in 1673. Tlie 
rapidity with which its production, and consumption, has increased, 
will be indicated by tiie Ibllowing table, showing the exports of 
sugar from Jamaica. This table is made up from one in Martin's 
British Colonies, a work of great research ; the facts of which are 
derived from official sources. The statistics have been condensed so 
as to give the average annual exports from 1772 to 1836, and tliere 
isadde'il, from Blackwood's Magazine, those from 1839 to 1843, and 
from 1846 to 1848.* A few years omitted in the earlier periods, 
are blanks in Martin's tables. From 1804, onward, where differ- 
ent results from the general average are found, we give the years 
.separately. This arrangement is important, to enable us to judge 
of the influence which the prohibition of the slave trade exerted 
upon the prospeiity of that and the other West India Islands ; and 
to determine tlie period when the decline in the amount of Jamaica 
exports had its origin. 

Average annual exports of Sugar from Jamaica, for the periods stated.\ 



Years. 


lbs. Sugar. 


Years. 


lbs. Sugar. 


1772 to 1775 


123,979,700 


1809 to 1810 


180,963,825 


1788 to 1791 


143,794,837 


ISll alone. 


218,874,600 


1793 to 1798 


145,598,850 


1812 to 1821 


183,706,280 


1799 to 1803 


193,781,140 


1822 to 1832 


153,760,431 


1804 alone. 


177,436,750 


1833 to 1835 


131,129,100 


1805 alone. 


237,751,1.50 


1836 alone 


75,990,950 


1806 alone. 


231,656,6.50 


1839 to 184311 


67,924,800 


1807 to 1808 


197,963,825 


[ 1846 to 1848§ 


67,539,200 



§ Ibid. 
1 of the abolition of the slave trade, 



II Present Lecture, p. 10. 
As heretofore stated,:}: the effects 
in 1&C8, and of the emancipation of the slaves in 1834, upon the 

* See present Lecture, p. 10. X Page 7, present Lecture. 

t Th« tables of Martin give the exports in hhds. tierces, and bbls. We have 
reduced the whole to lbs., estimating the hhd. at 1600 lbs., the tierce at 900 lbs. 
and the barrel at 250 lbs., as per best authorities. 



26 Present Relations of Fret- Lalor to Slavr Labor. 

commercial interests of Jamaica, will serve as a true index to the 
results in all the English West India colonies. 

The course of legislation in England, for several years past, has 
tended to increase the consumption of sugar by augmenting the 
supply. Up to 1844 all foreign sugars were excluded, and her 
own colonies enjoyed a strict monopoly of her markets. But the 
failures of her West India possessions, after emancipation, to furnish 
their usual supplies, led, in 1844, to the admission of foreign free 
labor sugar for consumption, and, in 1846, to that of slave labor 
sugar also. 

In 1848, the London Quarterly Review* says, that the amount 
taken for consumption, of foreign slave grown sugar, was 229,748,- 
096 lbs. We have been unable to ascertain the total annual con- 
sumption of slave grown sugar, in England, since 1846, but find, by 
the London Economist,! that, for the first eleven months of each 
year, it has been as follows : 

1846 lbs. 57,902,544 I 1848 lbs. 118,366,976 

1847 » 104,838,048 | 1849 " 63,517,888 

The total imports of sugar into England, and the amount re-ex- 
ported, were as I'ollows : 

English imports.^ English re-export s.W 

1846 lbs. lbs. 29,624,432 

1847 " " 96.613,992 

1848 " 852.792,976 " 48,735.008 

1849 " 928,002,208 " 84,768,096 

The difference between the imports and re-exports is the amount 
taken for consumption, and the difierence between this and the actual 
consumption indicates the stock left on hand at the close of the year. 

The whole amount of sugar consumed in England, in 1831, § 
was over 450,000,000 lbs. From 1844 to 1849, the consumption 
of this article, including molasses at its equivalent in sugar, was as 
follows : ^ 



1844 lbs. 486,648,960 

1845 " 570,127,040 

1846 " 609,781,760 



1847 lbs. 675,329,120 

1848 " 692,256,320 

1849 " 728,931,600 



By taking the average consumption of 1848 and 1849, a true idea 
of the present annual demand for sugar, in the English market, will 
be afforded : 

It was, per annum, lbs. 710,593,960 

Of which slave-grown sugar** constituted, say, 146,000,000 

Leaving England's consumption of free labor sugar, 564,593,960 

* See present Lecture, p. 11. t IPSO, p. 86. 

+ London Economist, 1>*50, p. 169. || lb., p. 170. 

§ Present Lecture, p. 11. IT Lond. Economist, 1850, p. 170. 

** See page 27. — Allowing all the exports from the English Colonies to be 
imported and consumed by her, the whole amount is less than her consumptioUj 
by about 146,000,000 lbs. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 27 

The sources of England's supply of sugar can be seen at once, in 
the annexed table. The amounts stated, however, are only for the 
Jirst eleven months of each year, and do not give the whole quantity 
imported and entered for consumption. 

Sugar entered in the Jirst eleven months oj each year, for consumption^ 



Year [West Indies. 


Mauritius. | East India 


Total colonial i 


Total foreign. 


1846" 


244,737,136 


93,b79,520 1 150,773,616 


489,390,272 


57,902,544 


1847 


261,306,080 


112.783,216 124,300,144 


498,399,440 


104,838,048 


1848 


283,772,036 


86 086,896 140,658,572 


510,517,404 


134,046,976 


1849 


319,032,896 


106,993,152 138,S67,792 


564,893,616 


47,837,888 



"We add another table, which embraces the whole of the exports 
from all the British colonies, from ls40 to 1849, and exhibits their 
extent for the twelve months of each year. 





Exports of Sugar from all the British Colonial Possessions. f 


Years. 


lbs. Sugar. 


Remarks. jj Years. 


lbs. Sugar. 


Remarks. 


1840 
1841 
1842 
1843 
1844 


365,060,192 Strict monopoly 
473,177,488 
463,220.064 " 
459,557,728 " 
459,495,696 1 " 


1 1845 
1846 

1847 
1848 
1849 


551,336,992 
501,061,904 
700,906,576 
566,077,792 
583,024,400 


Fr. lab. sug. adni. 

Foreign, of all 

kinds, aJm. 



This table includes the entire sources of supply possessed by Eng- 
land within her own colonics, and shows that their exi)orts of sugar, 
were 

Short of her consumption, in 1849, by 14.^,907,200 pounds. 
Short of her total imports, do. 344,977,808 

But it must here be remarked, that the whole exports /ro?n the 
British colonies are not always imported into England, because a 
portion of their products are taken by other countries. In 1848, 
the United States imported from the British West India Islands, 
1,258,2-42 lbs. of sugar, and in 1849, 1,245,492 lbs. It must be re- 
collected, then, that the exports from her colonies are not always 
the measure of England's imports from them, and that, therefore, 
the amount of her supplies of cotton, sugar, cofiee, &c., from her 
colonies, are not always equal to their exports. 

The production of cane sugar in the United States, until recently, 
was confined to Louisiana. The rapidity with which it has pro- 
gressed, in this country, furnishes a useful lesson for the little Re- 
public of Liberia. She possesses the best quality of sugar lands, 
and has around her an unlimited amount of labor that may be made 
available. 

The following table presents the amount of the crops of sugar 
produced in Louisiana, at nearly equal intervals, during thirty years : 



* London Economist, 1850, p. 86. 

+ London Economist, from Pari. Rep. 351, 1850. 



28 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



and shows the extent of our domestic supply of eane sugar.* The 
Droduclion of maple sugar, in 1840,t was about 30,000,000 lbs. 
Table of crops of Louisiana Sugar. 



Years. 


lbs. Sugar. 


Years. 


lbs. Sugar. 


1818 

1824-5 

1829-30 

1834-5 

1839-40 


18,000,000 
30,000,000 
73,000,000 
110,000,000 
119,457,000 


1844-5 
1848-9 
1849-50* 
" Te.vas.t 
Lou. gals, niolas. 


2(^4,916,000 

220,000,000 

269,769,000 

10,000,000 

12,000,000 



New Orleans Commercial Bulletin. 



t Ibid. 



The imports of foreign cane sugar into the United States, for the 
last two years, were as follows : ± 

1848 . . ' . 257,138,230 

1849 .... 259,324,126 

Of these amounts the following were the proportions of free and 
of slave labor : 

Imports of Free and of Slave Labor Sugar into the United Slates.\\ 



Slave labor, lbs. 1848 lbs. 1849 



Free Labor. lbs. 1848 lbs. 1849 



From Cuba, 
other Sp.W.I. 

Brazil. 
Dutch W. I. 

Guiana. 

Totalslv.gr. 
" free lab. 

Excess sl. lb. 



181,058,107 

47,778,973 

6,687,657 

513,977 

32,455 



183,011,744 

51,483,166 

11,131,457 

737,855 

209,755 



Svv. &, Dan W.I. 
DI).E.I.,Hol. etc. 

Hayti. 
Manilla, &c. 

China. 
Br. W. I., &c. 
Other countries. 



2,734,970 
2,432,305 

357,091 
12,546,098 

352,032 
2,096,683 

547,882 



236.071,169 246.573,977 
^1 ,067^61 12,695,355 

215,025,548 233,878,622 Total free labor. 21.067,061 



2,095,899 

665,050 

4,617 

6,649,1.32 

1,060,.372 

1,292,761 

327,524 

12,695,.355 



The exports of domestic sugar from the United States is very 
limited, being for 1848 only 3,522,779 lbs., and for 1849 but 
2,356,104 lbs. 

Of the foreiffn imports, there were re-exported for 1848, 13,686,- 
510, and for 1849, only 6,473,800 lbs. § 

To arrive at the amount of ihe consumption of sugar in the United 
States, the quantity exported must be deducted from the amount of 
the imports and of the domestic production. In doing this, we 
have allowed the re-exports of foreign sugar all to have been of the 
slave labor production, and thus afford an advantage to the figures 
representing the free labor sugar consumed in the United States. 
Making these deductions, the following results are produced : 

*Ed. D. Mansfield, Esq., of Cincinnati Chronicle, 
i- See Census, 1840. 

I Rep. Sec. Treas. U. S., on Com. and Nav. 

II Rep. Sec. Treas. U. S., on Com. and Nav. 

§ The molasses imported into the United States, amounted, in 1849, to 23,- 
796,806 gallons, of which only 756,339 gallons were of free labor. Of these 
imports 793,535 gals, were rc-e-xported. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 29 

Cousumplion of Cane Sugar in the United States. 

lbs. 1&J3 ll>s. 1849 

Growth of the U. S., less the exports, 216,477,221 277,402,896 

Slave labor imports, " " 222,384,759 240,099,177 

Slave labor Sugar consumed, U. S., 438,861,980 517,502,073 

Free labor Sugar, « " 21,067,061 12,695,355 

Total Sugar consumption, 459,929,041 530,197,428 

Excess of slave grown, do. 417,794,919 504,806,718 

The consumption of sugar in France, in 1848, was about 290,- 
000,000 lbs. or this quantity, 140,000,000 lbs. were of beet root 
sugar, produced in France. The production of cane sugar in the 
French colonies, in 1840, was 161,500,000 lbs.* p'or the first nine 
months of 1847, they supplied to France 168,884,177 lbs., but for 
the same period of 1849, only 96,929,336 lbs., being a falling off, 
as heretofore stated, of 71,854,841 lbs. the first nine months after 
freedom. t The production of beet root sugar is increasing ever)'- 
year. A heavy duty upon foreign sugar nearly excludes it from the 
French market, and thus, since her emancipation act of 1848, France 
may be considered as consuming very Utile slave grown sugar. 

"We have been unable to procure the statistics of the production 
and consumption of sugar as fully as those of coffee and cotton. t 
But they are sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes. For 
England and the United States they are ample, but for the continent 
somewliat imperfect. The August number of Hunt's Merchant's 
Magazine contains a statement, from the House of Eaton, Safford 
& Fox, of Cuba, of the production and consumption of sugar through- 
out the world. Although imperfect in a few cases, it enables us to 
reach a close approximation to the amount of slave and free labor 
sugars annually produced. Taking the whole of the authorities we 
have consulted, and they warrant us in stating the production of slave 
grown sugars as follows : 

Cuba and Porto Rico 672,000,000 lbs. 

Brazil 268,000,000 « 

United States 280,000,000 " 

Total slave grown sugar 1,220,000,000 lbs. 

This amount does not include the production of the Dutch colo- 
nies in the West Indies and Guiana, where slavery still exists. The 
statement is short by that amount, and we have been unable to find 
it given separately from that of the Dutch East India possessions. 
Of this slave grown sugar England and the United States consume 
663,502,000 lbs. annually. This leaves, of slave grown sugars for the 
continental countries of Europe, 556,498,000 lbs. The whole cou- 
sumption of these countries, excepting France, but including Russia, 

* We are indebted to M. Dureau, a French gentleman engaged in the collec- 
tion of sugar statistics, for these facts. f See present Lecture, p. 12. 

X In obtaining our cotton statistics, we have been much indebted to Mr. 
Thomas Frankland, of the Society of Friends, recently from England, whoso 
acquaintance we made at the Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, in Cincinnati. 



30 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



Turkey, and Egypt, is estimated by Eaton, Safford &l Fox, at 765,- 
375,000. From this, deduct the above balance of slave grown sugar, 
and there is left to be supi)lied by free labor, a demand of 208,877,000. 
To determine the probable accuracy of the result last stated, we 
have taken the exports oi free labor sugar from the British posses- 
sions, as determined by our former investigations, and those of the 
other sugar-producing countries, as estimated in the article in Hunt's 
Magazine. The result is as follows : 



English possessions 

Holland possessions 

Danish and Swedish possessions • 
German and Belgian, including heet sugar 



consumption in the South American Republics, 



583,024,000 lbs. 

120,000.000 " 
20,000.000 « 
30,000,000 « 

30,000,000 " 

783,024,000 lbs. 
577,289,000 « 



Excess of production 

Egypt, and China- 
Total free labor sugar for European and United States consumption- 

Deluct free labor sugar consumed by United States and England 

Balance left for continent, exclusive of France 205,736,000 lbs. 

But this statement of free labor sugar contains some of the beet 
root and all of the slave-grown sugar of the Dutch slave labor colo- 
nies. The estimates of Brazil, on the other hand, have no deduction 
for home consumption, so that the figures above given, no doubi rep- 
resent, very nearly, the consumption of free and slave labor sugars 
on the continent. 

We may now sum the whole results of our labors in one con- 
densed table, so as to exhibit the present relations of free labor to 
slave labor, and the indebtedness of the christian world to slavery 
for these articles of prime necessity. 

Total consumption of Free Labor and of Siaiv, Labor Cotlon, Coffee, and Cane Sugar, bij Ihe 
countries named in the foregoing investigations. 



Countries 
consuming. 



Great Britain 

United States 

France 

Other continental 
countries 



Total of each- 



552,530,800 
270,000.000 
150,000,000 



ri,469,200 
6,000,000 
1,120,000 

(8,589,200 



4,601,344 
119,682,189 



120,440,000 



33,418,156 
37,117,911 



147,213,933 



Slave labor Free labor 
lbs. sugar, lbs. sugar. 



146,000,000 564.503.9CO 
517,502,000. 12.riy5,.355 



none. 
556,498,000 

,220,000,000 



280,975, 



150,000,000 
205,735,000 



* Add the consumption of the United States to that of England, and deduct the amount 
from the total Slave Labor consumption, to find the amount of Slave Labor coffee consumed 
by France and the continent. 

III. That the legislative measures adopted for the destruction of the 
slave trade and slavery, especially by England, have tended to 
increase and extend the evils they were designed to destroy. 

In the outset of the investigations demanded to sustain this propo- 
sition, it is necessary to refer to the condition of slavery and the slave 
trade before measures had been taken to arrest their progress. The 
statistical tables, in the present lecture, show that the commercial 
prosperity of the English and French West India colonies had reached 
its maximum about the period when the first acts having reference to 
the removal of the oppressions which had afflicted the African peo- 
ple, were adopted by these governments. England's act, prohibiting 
the slave trade, was passed in 1807, and took eflect in 1808. In 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 31 

1805 and 1806, the exports of sugar from Jamaica were over 230,- 
000,000 lbs.,* for each year, and from the whole English West Indies, 
it was about 636,000,000 lbs. The article of sugar is referred to, be- 
cause it is the principal one exported from these islands. From 1827 
to 18;U, the period preceding the emancipation of the EngHsh West 
India slaves, the exports of sugar from these colonies were reduced to 
an annual average of 448,665,520 lbs., or Hear/^one-ZAirJ, and from Ja- 
maica alone, from 1 829 to 1833, to 152,564,800 lbs.,t or more than one- 
third. This was twenty-five years after the prohibition of the slave 
trade, when ample time to show its effects had elapsed. The act of 
emancipation was passed in 1833, took effect in 1834, and the free- 
dom of tbe slaves was perfected in 1838. 

The effect of emancipation was a still farther reduction of the ex- 
ports from these colonies — the whole exports, in 1848, being only 
313,506,112 lbs.,t or more than one -half less than in 1807, and 
Jamaica itself but 67,539,200 lbs,, or nearly threefourths less than 
in 1807. 

The first direct act of the French, in reference to African freedom, 
was the proclamation of General Le Clerc,§ in 1802, proclaiming 
liberty and equality to all the inhabitants of Hayti, without regard 
to color. The exports of sugar from that island in 1790, were 
163,318,810 lbs. II Its prosperity was at once greatly impaired 
by the revolution, and at present its exports of sugar are almost 
nothing. 

Had a reduction of the quantity of sugar, coffee, or cotton, conse- 
quent upon the suppression of the slave trade and the emancipation 
of the slaves, been the only effects of these efforts to benefit the Afri- 
can race, the world would have submitted to the sacrifice without a 
murmur, because the present cheap and abundant supplies of these 
articles would have been unknown. But far different from the re- 
sults anticipated, were the consequences of these measures upon the 
welfare of the African people. We shall proceed to trace them. 

England and the United States, in prohibiting the slave trade, did 
but obey the dictates of a moral power emanating from a philan- 
thropic public sentiment. It was an act demanded by the Christian 
principle of these countries. But in the plan of its execution, we 
have lamentable evidence of the limited wisdom and foresight of man 
in grappling with evils of great magnitude. 

In 1808, when the slave trade was prohibited by England and the 
United States, Africa was annually losing 85,000* of her population 
by the slave trade. Of this number 19 per cent, perished in the 
middle passage, making available, to the slave purchasers, 77,000 
slaves. But the discontinuance of the slave trade, by these two pow- 
ers, by no means diminished the evil sought to be destroyed. From 
that day the export of slaves from Africa increased, and from 1810 
to 1815, she was robbed yearly of 93,000 of her population; and 

* See present Lecture, pages 13 ana 32. 

t See present Lecture, p. 10. t lb. § lb. p. 8. || lb. p. 11. 



32 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



from 1815 to 1819 of 106,000 annually. Of the latter, 25 per 
cent, perished in the "rniddle passage," so that out of 106,000 torn 
from Africa, but 79,400 reached the planters, or only 2,400 more 
than they had obtained when the exports from Africa were but 85,000 
With the exception of 1830 to 1835, the exports of slaves from 
Africa continued to increase until the close of 1839, when they 
reached the appalling number of 135,800 a year, with a continued loss 
of 25 per cent, of the number in their transportation. 

The following tables, prepared by a select committee of the House 
of Commons, showing the state of the African slave trade with rela- 
tion to America, for the last sixty years, convey a clear view of the 
state of this traffic during that period.* 

Number of Slaves computed to have heen Exported and Imported westward from 
Africa, from 1788 to 1840. 







Am'nt of 


DATE 


Slaves 




Exported. 


In 1788 


100,000 




ri798tol805 


85,000 




1805 to 1810 


85,000 


5 


1810 to 1815 


93,000 




1815 to 1817 


106,600 




1817 to 1819 


106,600 


^ 


1819 to 1825 


103,000 


i 


1825 to 1830 


125,000 




1830 to 1835 


78,iS00 




1835 to 1840 


135,800 



Average casual- 


I>- 


ties during the 


S-=^ . 


Voyage. 


^U 






Av'rg 




^R-3 


pr'p'r- 


Am'nt. 




tion. 




m 


14p.c. 


14,000 


25,000 


14 " 


12,000 


15,000 


14 " 


12,000 


15,000 


14 " 


13,000 


30,000 


25 " 


26,600 


.32,000 


25 " 


26,600 


34,000 


25 " 


25,800 


39,000 


25 " 


31,000 


40,000 


25 " 


19,600 


40,000 


25 " 


33,900 


29,000 



18,000 
20,000 
25,000 
30,000 
31,000 
34,000 



37,000 
50,000 
15,000 
65,000 



44,000 
38,000 
33,000 
20,000 
17,000 
12,000 
capt'd. 

by 
crus'rs 
1,200 
4,000 
3,900 
7,900 



86,000 
73,000 
73,000 
80,000 
80,000 
80,000 



77,200 
94,000 
58,900 
101,900 



Number q/" Slaves computed to have been annually Exported and Imported 
ivestward from Africa, from 1840 to 1848. 





Am'nt 


Average casualties 
during the voyage. 


Slaves 
import- 


Import- 


Captur- 


Total 




slaves 
expt'd. 






ed into 
Spanish 
colonies 


ed into 
Brazil. 


ed by 
cruis'rs. 






Average 
proportion 


Am'nt. 


of slaves 
import'd. 


1840 


64,114 


25 pr cent. 


16,068 


14,470 


30,000 


3,616 


48 086 


1841 


45,097 


25 " 


11,274 


11,857 


16,000 


5,966 


33,823 


1842 


28,400 


25 " 


7,100 


3,150 


14,200 


3,950 


21,300 


1843 


55,062 


25 " 


13,765 


8,000 


30,500 


2,797 


41,297 


1844 


54,102 


25 " 


13,525 


10,000 


26,000 


4,577 


40,577 


1845 


36,758 


25 " 


9,189 


1,.350 


22,700 


3,519 


27,569 


1846 


76,117 


25 " 


19,029 


1,700 


52,600 


2,788 


57,088 


1847 


84,356 


25 " 


21,089 


1,500 


57,800 


.3,967 


68,267 



Westminster Review, 1850, p. 263. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 33 

But why this disastrous defeat of the benevolent designs of Eng- 
land and the United States, in their efforts to suppress the slave 
trade? The question is easily answered. The diminution of the 
exports from the British West Indies, being more than one-half, 
equaled a loss of 420,000 of her former 800,000 slaves. France 
had lost three-ffths"^' of her annual colonial supplies of sugar and 
otlier products, in the emancipation, or death by war, of her 480,000 
slaves in Hayti.t The 163,300,0001 lbs. of sugar lostby these events, 
had lo be supplied to France by increased production in her remain- 
ino- colonies. This required an additional amount of labor, equal- 
ing what had been rendered unavailable in Hayli, or 480,000 men; 
and this number, added to England's equivalent loss of 420,000, 
making in all 900,000 slaves, had to be procured from Jifrica, and 
to be renewed every seven years.§ 

Following the example of France, Spain and Portugal immediately 
commenced extending their cultivation, in Cuba and Brazil, by a 
vigorous prosecution of the slave trade. They were encouraged in 
the execution of this design, in the opening markets created for their 
products by the diminishing exports of the English and French colo- 
nies. The withdrawal of the English and American slave merchants 
from the African coast, removed all rivalry, except that of France ; 
and in alitde over thirty years, slave grown products increased nearly 
three-fourths above what they had been when the slave trade was 
prohibited.il 

These facts being stated, it is easily seen why the slave trade 
should have increased with such rapidity, and to such an amazing 
extent. For each slave emancipated by England and France, who 
refused to labor as he had done while a slave, (for which no man will 
blame him, but which, it was predicted, he would do out of gratitude 
to his benefactor,) another had to be obtained from Africa to make 
up the loss to commerce. 

But in addition to the diminished supply of tropical products, 
occasioned by the prohibition of the slave trade and the emancipa- 
tion of the slaves in the West Indies, there has been a vasdy increased 
consumption of some of the commodities upon which slave labor 
has been employed ; and, as before remarked, all this rapidly increas- 
ing demand had to be supplied by slave labor. Hence, the enormous 
increase of the slave trade, notwithstanding the efforts made for its 
suppression. 

But where was the error, in the legislation by England, on this 
subject? It was in this : She should, before taking any action her- 
self, have obtained the consent of the other European powers, to unite 
in disallowing the slave trade to their subjects. At that day some of 
the articles now so profitably employing slave labor, were compara- 
tively unimportant to commerce. People, then, were more desirous 
of escaping from the evils of slavery than they are at present, and 



* Present Lecture, p. 8. f lb. t lb. p- H. § lb. p. 7. 

II See Lecture first, p. 38, for McQueen's statement of this fact. 

10 



34 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

efficient measures for emancipation could have been more easily 
executed. 

But England's first act of philanthropy was done at a moment 
when her manufacturing operations were rapidly growing up into 
great national interests, that could not be checked or dispensed with, 
and the ultimate importance of which could not then be foreseen. 
While, therefore, on the one hand, she was afterward pleading the 
cause of humanity, and urging the abandonment of the slave trade 
and of slavery, upon other nations ; on the other, her own di- 
minishing supplies of tropical products, and increasing cotton 
manufactures and sugar consumption, were creating, at home and 
abroad, that increasing demand for slave labor products, which sup- 
plied the chief aliment that sustained the foreign slave trade and 
foreign slave labor cultivation. And even when Great Britain par- 
tially succeeded, by bonus* or by treaty, in gaining over a nation to 
her measures, alas ! there was not that virtuous public sentiment, 
such as had existed in England and the United Slates, to act over 
upon that nation, and to encourage or impel it onward in the execu- 
tion of its noble and humane engagements. 

An outline of British legislation, in reference to the admission of 
tropical commodities to her markets, will show how effectually her 
legislation at home defeated negotiation abroad. 

Up to 1844, the British colonies enjoyed a practical monopoly of 
the British markets. The duty on foreign sugar was 63 s. per cwt., 
on sugar the growth of her East India possessions and Mauritius, 
37 s. per cwt., and on that of her West India Colonies, only 27 s.per 
cwt.t In 1844 the first inroad was made, the act taking effect in 
November of that year, by which foreign free labor sugar was 
admitted at a lower duty.t This act terminated the monopoly which 
the British colonies had in the markets of the mother country, and 
allowed the introduction of the free labor sugars of Java and Manilla 
for consumption in England; while Holland and Spain compensated 
themselves for the amount of their usual supplies thus diverted to a 
profitable market, by sending to Cuba and Brazil for a sufficient quan- 
tity of their cheaper slave labor sugar to make up the deficiency. § 

In 1845, a general reduction of the sugar duties Avas made, which 
reduced the protection against foreign slave grown sugars one-half, 
and in 1846, the final act was passed, admitting all foreign sugars on 
advantageous terms. This act made a progressive reduction, during 
three years, of the duties on foreign sugar, until in 1849, when those 
on foreign and colonial were to become equal to each other. || In 1848 
however, another act was passed by Parliament, postponing, for three 
years, the equalization of the duties to be levied on foreign and colo- 

* A bonus was paid to Portugal, in 1815, to conclude a treaty to abandon 
tlie slave trade, and near tbe same time, by a similar treaty with Spain, she 
received from England $2,000,000, and afterward evaded her engagement. — 
Ed. Rev., July 1836. 

f Westminster Rev. 1850, p. 276. i London Economist, 1850, p. 85. 

§See Lecture first, p. 41. || Blackwood's Mag. 184, p, 5. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 35 

nial sugars, and thus, seemingly, affording a slight protection to the 
colonies until 1854. But the difference in duties, owing to the man- 
ner in which the scale is arranged, and the greater cheapness of 
slave-labor cultivation, makes the law afford only a nominal protec- 
tion and be of little practical value. The duties, per cwt., on for- 
eign and colonial sugars, stand as follows since the last enactment, 
and will be equal on all kinds in July, 1854.t 

MUSCOVADOS. 



To 5 July, 

18.)0. 

£. s. d 

British 11 

Foreign 17 


To5Ji 

Itol 

£. s, 

11 

15 


ly, 

'd. 


6 


To 5 July. 
1S52. 
£. $. d. 
10 
14 


To 5 July, 
1853. 
£. .0. d. 
10 
13 


To 5 July, 

1S54. 

£. .■!. d. 

10 
12 


Fr'ni 5 July, 

1K54. 

£. s. d. 

10 

10 


British 14 
Foreign 19 10 


12 

18 


VITHITE CLAYED. 
10 11 8 11 8 

1 16 4 15 2 


11 8 
14 


11 8 
11 8 


British 16 
Foreign 14 8 


14 

1 2 


WHITE REFINED. 

8 13 4 13 4 

8 10 8 19 4 


13 4 

17 4 


13 4 
13 4 


British 4 6 
Foreign 6 4 


4 
5 


2 
9 


MOLASSES 

3 9 
5 3 


' 3 9 
4 10 


3 9 
4 6 


3 9 
3 9 



The immense falling off in the exports of the British West India 
colonies, which had taken place after emancipation, and the impossi- 
bility of her East India possessions supplying the deficiency, left the 
government of Great Britain no other alternative but a redaction of 
the sugar duties, and the admission of slave grown sugar. A strug- 
gle to stimulate West India industry had been continued thirteen 
years, from 18.33 to 1846, resulting only in taxing the English people 
by protective duties, $150,000,000| more than the consumers of 
other countries had paid for an equal quantity of sugar, and the effort 
had to be abandoned. 

For many years her West India colonies had supplied to England 
more sugar than was necessary for home consumption, allowing the 
government to force off that of her East India possessions into other 
markets, by a differential duty of 10 shillings the cwt. in favor of her 
West Indies. But in 1840, her own consumption of sugar was 609,- 
781,760 lbs.,§ and the total exports of all her West India colonies only 
277,252,400 lbs.,l| and with that of the East Indies and Mauritius 
added, but 501,061,904 lbs. ,11 an amount, even if England received it 
all, not sufficient for her home consumption by 108,119,856 lbs. 
By this result the whole field of the foreign markets, formerly supplied 
with English sugar, was left open for that of slave labor products. 

The impulse given to the efforts of other nations, in the prosecu- 
tion of the slave trade, when it was abandoned by England and the 
United States, received no check, as is shown by the foregoing 



t Westminster Rev. 1850, p. 276 
i Westminster Review, 1850 
II Present Lecture, p. 10. 



p. 275. § Present Lecture, p. 26. 
f Present Lecture, p. 27. 



36 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

table,* until 1830, when a reduction of the price of sugar from 445. Qd. 
the cwt. to 24s. M., diminished the export of slaves from Africa 37 
per cent. But this depression lasted only during the time that the 
price of sugar continued at that reduced rate. In 1836, sugar again 
rose to 29s. 3f?. the cwt., and gave an impetus to the slave trade that 
increased the export of slaves from Africa 73 per cent., or to 135,800 
per annum from that till the close of 1839.t 

But 1840 constitutes an epoch in the history of the slave trade, 
because, during that year, the first successful check was given to it, 
and the hope created that it could be annihilated. From that period 
until 1847, the varying results will be found in the foregoing Parlia- 
mentary tables. By the first table it will be seen, that the African 
slave trade had reached its maximum from 1835 to 1839, when the 
average annual exports were 135,800, and that in 1840 it was sud- 
denly reduced to 64,114. 

This reduction was effected through the unwearying efforts of 
England, stimulated, in a great measure, it is believed, by the com- 
mercial considerations referred to in our first Lecture. Be this as it 
may, by her influence, the authorities of Brazil, in 1840 and 1841, 
made the attempt to suppress the slave trade, and the effect was 
immediate.^ General Espartero being in power in Spain, also acted 
in good faith in the execution of the conditions of the treaty with 
England, and appointed General Valdez, Governor of Cuba. When 
Vafdez entered upon his duties, the imports of slaves into Cuba were 
about 14,000 annually. The first year of his government reduced 
the imports 8,000 ; and in 1842, the last year, the number imported 
was only 3,100 men.§ Political changes occurring, the plans of these 
governments were soon abandoned, and the increasing demand for 
slave grown products, which was soon after created, by their admis- 
sion into the English markets, gave renewed activity to that traftic, 
increasing it, in 1847, to within a trifle of what it was from 1798 to 
1810, and in 1848 and 1849, it is believed, to an extent nearly equal 
to what it has been at any former period. || 

With these facts before us, a true conception can be formed of the 
past and present condition of the slave trade. 

It is evident that if England could have persisted in her exclusion 
of slave gi-own products from her markets, and could have rejected 
such free labor products as would have been replaced in other mar- 
kets by an equivalent of those of slave labor origin, that a death-blow 
would have been given to the slave trade, and, in its suppression, to 
the slavery of Cuba and Brazil. But, unfortunately, at the moment 
when nea;otiation abroad, combined with protective duties at home, 
had enabled England to reduce the exports of slaves from Africa, in 
1845, to 36,758, and the imports into BrazO to 22,700 ; the clamor 
in England, for a full supply of sugar, forced the government, first 

* See table, present lecture, p. 32. t London Times, 1849. 
% Speech of Sir R. Peel in British Parliament, 1844. § Ibid. 
I] Westminster Review, 1850, p. 265, states that the imports of slaves into Bra- 
lil in 1848 were 72,000, a larger number than at any former period. 



Present Relations of Free Labor and Slave Labor. 37 

to admit free labor sugar, and next, through the predominance of 
free-trade principles, slave labor sugar also. These acts at once 
opened up a market of such importance to countries employing slave 
labor, that an irresistible impetus was given to the slave trade, stimu- 
lating those engaged in it to break through every treaty stipulation, 
and bid defiance to all the physical force that can be arrayed against 
them. 

It was the advancing demand for slave grown products, created by 
the causes before stated, that made it impossible for the governments 
of Spain and Brazil to act in good faith in the suppression of the slave 
trade. Governments cannot go much in advance of the public senti- 
ment of their people, nor can they long remain much behind it. The 
positions of England and the United States, on the slave trade, were 
the result of the correct moral sentiment existing among tlieir people. 
But the people of Spain and Brazil, governed only by commercial 
considerations, and not by motives of philanthropy or the principles 
of equity, looked only to' the protits to be made by continuing the 
slave trade, and cared nothing for the amount of human woe induced, 
if they could but amass fortunes to themselves. These governments, 
therefore could not resist the tide of public sentiment; and their 
poUcy being changed, a rapidly-increasing flood of misery has 
continued to roll on, wave after wave, until humanity shudders at 
beholding the dark and dismal deluge continually dashing in upon the 
shores of the southern portion of our continent. 

That the legislative measures adopted for the suppression of the 
slave trade and the abolition of slavery, have tended to increase and 
extend ttie evils they were designed to destroy, is not an opinion of 
recent origin, but one of very general belief in England. The pres- 
ent is, perhaps, the first effort to classify the facts and demonstrate 
the proposition. But that British legislation directly tended to this 
result, has been frequently asserted, by many of the most intelli- 
gent Englishmen, with great positiveness ; and more than this, it was 
predicted, with equal positiveness, by men who understood human 
nature better than those controling the movement, that their mea- 
sures would certainly produce tlie residis which have followed. In 
proof of this we need only quote a few paragraphs. The first is one 
embracing predictions of the consequences that would follow the 
adoption of the course of legislation proposed It will be found in 
the Westminster Review, 1849. 

"We cannot abolish slavery and the slave trade — we can only 
clear ourselves of them ; and we may clear ourselves of them, say- 
ino- we are abolishing them, in a way to strengthen them. It is not 
abolishing them to shift them from the West Indies to Cuba. By 
our way of ridding ourselves of slavery, we are making slaves more 
valuable and the slave trade more profitable, and increasing the inter- 
est of all other nations in buying, and selling, and keeping slaves. 
We shall pay $100,000,000, and millions on millions besides, in 
the price of sugar and loss of capital ibr confirming slavery and the 
slave trade. To expect other nations to follow our example by 



38 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

making it their interest not to do it, is not very wise. The way to 
abolish slavery is to make it contrary to the interest of the slave- 
dealer and slaveholder." 

The remaining paragraphs are confirmatory of our proposition, 
and are from sources entitled to great respect. 

" Fifteen years ago we thoiiglit we had done with the slave trade 
and slavery. But these odious subjects come back to us. The 
dark specters are not laid. One hundred and forty millions is the 
estimate of the sum of money spent to destroy them. Hundreds of 
associations, thousands of committees, public speeches, sermons, 
prayers, &c., &c., &c., have all been used as exorcisms to lay the 
specters of the bondage and the traffic which degrade men to the level 
of domestic animals. Our poorer people have been deprived of 
comforts which would have sweetened, literally and figuratively, their 
existence, because we would deal heroically with slavery and the 
slave trade. The chains of the negro have long been broken in mar- 
ble. The fame of many renowned names have been won by feats 
of eloquence and zeal in this sacred cause. AVe celebrated many 
victories over the iniquity. But lo ! slavery and the slave trade are 
stronger than ever, and more horrific tlian ever. On this subject, 
England has done two noble things, and committed two blunders. 
The nobleness has been ethical, and the blunders have been econom- 
ical. Narrowness has been the source of the evils. Christian ethics 
had highly cultivated the consciences of the abolitionists, but they 
were ignorant of economical science."* 

After referring to the modifications of the sugar duties, by Parlia- 
ment, and the scarcity of the supplies of sugar in the French mar- 
kets consequent upon emancipation in Hayti, Blackwood's Magazine 
says : t 

"To provide against the evidently approaching crisis in the supply 
of sugar in the British market, we have thrown open our harbors to 
slave-grown sugar {rcim every quarter of the globe; and from the 
rapid decline inthe AVest India Islands, even before this last coup-de- 
grace was given them by the application of free-trade principles to 
their produce, it is painfully evident that a result precisely similar (to 
what occured in Hayti.) is about to take place in the British colonies. 
And it is little consolation to find that this injustice has recoiled upon 
the heads of the nation which perpetrated it, and that the decline in 
the consumption of British manufactures by the West India islands 
is becoming proportioned to the ruin we have inflicted on them. 

"But most of all has this concatenation of fanaticism, infatuafion. 
and injustice proved pernicious to the negro race, for whose benefit 
the changes were all undertaken. Happy would it have been for 
them if the British slave trade had never been abolished; and they 
had crossed the Atlantic chiefly in Liverpool or Glasgow slave-ships, 
and been brought to the British West India Islands ! For then the 

» Westminster Review, Oct. 1849. + January, 1843, p. G, 7. 



Present Rdaliona of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 39 

slave trade was suhjeot to our direction, and regulations might have 
)een adopted to place it upon the best possible footing for its unhappy 
victims. But now we have thrown it entirely into the hands of the 
Spaniards and Portuguese, over whom we have no sort of control, 
and who exercise it in so frightful a manner that the heart absolutely 
sickens at the thought of the amount of human suffering at the cost 
of ivhich ire have reduced the price of src^ar to sixpence a pound. 
Compared with it, the English slave-ships and English slavery were 
an earthly paradise. Mr. Buxton, the great anti-slavery advocate, 
admitted, some years ago, that the " number of blacks who now 
cross the Atlantic, is double u'hac it was when Wilberforce and 
Clarkson first began their benevolent labors."* A^oic, under the fos- 
tering influence of free-trade in sugar, it may reasonably be expected 
that ill a few years, the ivhole, or nearly the whole sugar consumed 
by Europe, will be raised by the slave colonies, and wrung by the 
lash from the most wretched species of slaves — those of Cuba and 
Brazil ! Moreover, the slave trade, to supply them, will be triple 
what it was in 1789, when the movement in favor of the negro popu- 
lation began ! Thus, by the combined effects of fanaticism, igno- 
rance, presumption, and free trade, we shall have succeeded, by the 
middle of this century, in totally destroying our own sugar colonies; 
adding, to no purpose, $100,000,000 to our national debt ; annihilating 
property to the amount of $650,000,000 in our own (colonial) do- 
mains ; doubling the produce of foreign slave possessions ; cutting off 
a market of $17,500,000 a year for our manufactures ; and tripling 
the slave trade in extent, and quadrupling it in horror, throughout the 
globe." 

Another writer specifies more fully the effects of these measures.! 
" The impulse which the government act of 1846 has given to the 
slave trade in every part of the world, is something perfectly enor- 
mous ; but its mischievous and inhuman effects will be best understood 
by a reference to ascertained facts. Prior to 1846, the traffic in 
slaves between the African coast and the Spanish colonies had been 
gradually declining, and had in fact almost disappeared. The exclu- 
sion of slave-grown sugars from our home market had nearly forced 
the Cuban proprietors into a different system, and arrangements were 
pending in that Colony for the emancipation of the slaves, just at the 
time Lord John Russell came forward in favor of the chain and the 
lash, and all was changed. " The value of field negroes in Cuba had 
risen (in the course of the two years, from 1846 to 1848) from 300 
to 500 dollars each, a price that would speedily bring a supply from 
the coast." " We will not, forsooth, permit foreign nations to traffic 
in slaves, and yet we give them the monopoly of our market, know- 
ing all the while that upon that importation alone we are dependant 
for a cheap supply — cheap sugar means cheap slaves.'' " Why 
did we destroy that market in Jamaica which we so eagerly sieze in 

* Buxton on the Slave trade, p. 172. 

t Blackwood's Magazine, Feb. 1848, p. 235, 236. 



40 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

Brazil ? " " Great Britain, after forcing the Emancipation Act oi 
her colonies, and in the most solemn manner announcing, in a voice 
of thunder, her future determined opposition to the existence of the 
traffic in slaves, at once took a course which made her the customer 
of less scrupulous countries, and the largest encourager of that odious 
traffic in the world, thus ruining her own colonies." 

Quotations of similar expressions of opinion might be multiplied 
indefinitely, but enough have been given. It may be added, however, 
that the North British Review, in a careful digest of the evidence 
contained in the six Reports on the Slave Trade and Slavery, made 
to Parliament, within the last two years, is led to this conclusion : 
7'hat England's coersive measures have not merely failed to check 
the supply of slaves to Brazil, but that, on the other hand, they have 
had the effect of greatly aggravating the horrors of the middle 
passage, and the sufferings endured by the negroes in the barracoons 
on the coast of Africa, as well as very materially prejudicing the 
interests of British merchants trading to that country. This failure 
of the coercive policy for the suppression of the slave trade, the 
Reviewers contend, "results from its unsoundness in principle." 

IV. Tliat the governments named, cannot hope to escape from the 
necessity of consuming the products of slave labor, except by call- 
ing into active service, on an extensive scale, the free labor of 
countries not at present producing the commodities upon which 
slave labor is employed. 

In the discussion of our first proposition, we proved that the tropical 
countries, where slavery has been abolished, have f\uled to furnish to 
commerce, since emancipation, an amount of products equal to what 
they had previously supplied. In discussing some of the otlier pro- 
positions, it appeared that the whole free labor exports from the 
Asiatic portion of the Eastern Hemisphere, added to those of the 
Western, had fallen far short of supplying the demands of Europe 
and America. It also appeared that to this cause was principally 
due the vast increase of the slave trade during the present century. 

To sustain our fourth proposition, it will be necessary to show, 
that the free labor to which we have referred, cannot be so stimulated 
as to make it sufficienUy productive to compete with, arid displace, 
the fruits of slave labor in the markets of the world. 

When the non-progressive character of the population of Pagan 
countries is considered, but litde aid will be expected from the Asi- 
atic portion of the Eastern Hemisphere,* in efforts to make free labor 
compete with slave labor, in tropical cultivation. The inquiries into 
this subject, may, therefore, be confined to the Western Hemisphere. 
To understand the relations which the free labor and the slave labor, 
of this hemisphere, bear to each other, and the capability of the first 
to compete with the last, it is necessary to state the proportion which 
the number of persons of the one class bear to those of the other. 

* Present Lecture, p. 18. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 41 

The amount of the population of the EngUsh and French West 
[ndia Colonies, emancipated from slavery, has been already stated,* 
and comprehends nearly the whole of tlie free labor employed in the 
cultivation of the commodities we have been considering. Estima- 
ting the increase of the population of Hayti, since emancipation, at 
40 per cent., and that of the English colonies at 20 per cent., will 
give them a present population of 1,400,000. To this must be added 
the persons emancipated by France, in 1848, making the total free 
labor forces, within the limits under consideration, about 1,657,000 
persons. Agamst this free population there is arrayed the following 
number of slaves : t 

United States, 3,252,000 

Brazil, 3,250,000 

Spanish Colonies, 900,000 

Dutch Colonies, 85,000 

South American Republics, 140,000 

African Settlements, 30,000 

Total slave population, 7,657,000 

Free labor do. above stated, 1,657,000 

Excess of slave population 6,000,000 

Of the number of slaves in the United States, about 1,000,000 are 
in States which do not produce cotton and sugar. Deducting these, 
will leave 6,657,000 slaves arrayed against 1,657,000 free persons, or 
5,000,000 more slaves than freemen. 

These figures testify, with unequivocal distinctness, that the free 
population, above named, cannot be made to compete with the slave 
population, in tropical cultivation. In addition to the immense dis- 
parity of numbers, a moment's consideration will make it evident, 
that, even were their numbers equal, the circumstances under which 
the people, called free, are placed, would still make it impossible to 
stimulate them to such a degree of industry, that their voluntary 
labor would be equally productive with the compulsoi-y labor of the 
slaves. 

A very brief examination will show, that this is not an exaggerated 
view of the condition of the people under consideration. In refer- 
ring to Hayti, we need only direct attention to a preceding tablet as 
an index of its industry, and to our second lecture|| for a correct view 
of its social and moral condition. The other French colonies, in nine 
months of their first year of freedom, have diminished their exports 
of sugar, nearly 72,000,000 lbs.§ 

The British West Indies, it may safely be said, have a free popu- 
lation whose industry cannot be made to compete with even an equal 
amount of slave labor. In addition to the extensive array of facts 

* Present Lecture, p. 9. 

+ Tenth Report of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. We add 
for Texas only 22,000, and estimate the other States up to 1850, at 3 per cent, 
per annum, since 1840. But Texas has at least 40,000. 

X Page 11. 11 Pages 42, 43. § Present lecture, p. 12. 



42 Present Eclat io)is of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

submitted in the present and former lectures, the public have recently 
been supplied with much new and important information from Ja- 
maica, by Mr. Bigelow, one of the editors of the New York. Evening 
Post, a leading Anti-Slavery paper. 

This genUeman has recently visited Jamaica, and made a careful 
examination of its condition. He represents industry as at the lowest 
ebb ; and that the downward tendencies of the island cannot be more 
rapid than at present. A degrading estimate is put upon labor, and a 
white man is never seen at work upon the estates. The blacks, 
" with the average sequence of negro logic, infer that if genUemen 
never work, they have only to abstain from work to be gentlemen." 
In the city of Kingston, he says, one looks and listens in vain for 
the noise of carts and the busde of busy men; no one seems to be in 
a hurry ; but few are doing anything ; while the mass of the popula- 
tion are lounging about in idleness and rags. Nor is there any present 
hope that these habits of indolence will be abandoned ; because there 
is absolutely nothing to stimulate the majority of the people to in- 
dustry and to efforts for intellectual and moral advancement. The 
greater portion of the lands under cultivation is held by owners of 
immense estates, and but little encouragement is extended to the people 
to cultivate small tracts, because this policy would draw off the labor 
from the sugar estates. The property qualification of voters is fixed 
so high as to exclude the mass of the people from any participation in 
the government of the island, or in the enactmentof the laws that are to 
control them. Out of a population in Jamaica, of 400,000, of whom 
"^6,000 are white, the average vote of the island has never exceeded 
3,000. The center of legislative control is in London, and the mem- 
bers of the colonial legislature are mere shadows, destitute of the vital 
functions of legislators. The veto power of the governor, who is ap- 
pointed by the Queen, enables him practically to control all legisla- 
tion. The enormous property qualification required to make a man 
eligible to a seat in the legislature, excludes all but the landholders 
from that body. By this arrangement all the energies of legislation 
are exerted to promote the growth and sale of sugar and rum. In ad- 
dition to other depressing influences, young men of moderate means, 
or who are poor, cannot reach the profession of the law, because none 
can practice at the bar except such as have pursued their studies in 
England, and been admitted there. So little do those who control 
public affairs, comprehend the principles of human action, that though 
wages are only 18| to 25 cents a day, (the laborer boarding himself,) 
the planters all imagine that a reduction of wages is essential to the 
revival of agricultural prosperity. 

Such are the disadvantages under which these poor, oppressed 
Africans labor in the West Indies, and such the utter hopelessness 
of their being able to make much progress, that, next to their brethren 
yet in slavery, they demand, and should receive, the sympathies of 
the christian world. 

It would have been difficult to convince the world, that such uttei 
ruin, as has occurred in Jamaica, could have been produced by any 



Present Relations of Free Lohor to Slave Labor. 43 

course of legislation. But Mr, Bigelow reveals facts upon this sub- 
ject that are truly astounding. He says : 

"Since 1832, out of the six hundred and fifty-three sugar estates 
then in cultivation more than one hundred and fifty have been aban- 
doned and broken up. This has thrown out of cultivation over 200,- 
000 acres of rich haul, which, in 1832, gave employment to aboui 
30,000 laborers, and yielded over 25,600,000 lbs. of sugar, and over 
6,000 puncheons of rum. During the same period, over five hun- 
dred coflee plantations have also been abandoned and their works 
broken up. This threw out of cultivation over 200,000 acres more of 
land, which in 1832 required the labor of over 30,000 men." 

An estate formerly selling for $90,000, in 1845, sold for $5,000. 
Another, which once cost an equal sum, has been ofl'ered by its 
present owners for $7,500, and finding no purchaser, was abandoned. 
A multitude of such cases are embraced in Mr. Bigelow's letters, 
showing a general prostration of the commercial interests of the 
island. That an over-crowding of population can have no influence 
in checking the prosperity of Jamaica, is proved by the fact, that out 
of her 4,000,000 acres of land, all being of the most fertile kind, not 
over 500,000 acres have been brought under cultivation, or even 
appropriated. 

The low state of civilization, leaves the population of the Britisn 
West Indies with few wants. It is asserted that the people of these 
islands are enabled to live in comfort, and acquire wealth, without, 
for the most part, laboring on the estates of the planters, for more than 
three or four days in the week\ and from five to seven hours in the 
day, so that they have no stimulant to perform an adequate amount 
of labor.* 

This condition of tilings puts it out of the power of the planters to 
produce sugar for less than £20 per ton, on the average, while the 
cost in slave countries is only .£12t per ton. 

This discloses the fact that the planters of Cuba, employing slave 
labor, can manufacture sugar for £8 the ton less than those of Jamaica 
can produce it by free labor. As one of the immediate results of this 
condition of things, it was asserted in 1848, that "the great influx of 
slave-growai produce into the English markets has, in the short space 
of six months, reduced the value of sugar from £26 to £14 per ton; 
while, under ordinary circumstances of soil and season, the cost to us 
of placing it in the market is not less than £20 per ton."; 

It is well, here, to explain why it is that the duties on foreign 
sugar aff'ord no real protection to the English West India planter. 
" The slave sugars are all so much better manufactured, which the 
great command of labor enables them to do, that, to the refiner, they 
are intrinsically worth more than ours. In short, they prepare their 
sugars, whereas we cannot do so, and we pay duty at the same rate 
on an article which contains a quantity of molasses. So that, if the 

" * Blackwood's Mag. 1848. p. 227. f lb. p- 230. 

X Blackwood's Mag. 1848, p. 230. Resolutions of a meeting at .St. David's, 
Jamaica. 



44 Present Relations cf Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

duties were equalized, there would virtually be a bonus on the 
importation of foreign sugar. The refiners estimate the vaUie of 
Havanna, in comparison with West India free sugar, as from three to 
five sliilUngs per cwt. better in point of color and strength. The 
reason is, that these sugars are partially refined or clayed.''''* 

The relation in which foreign sugars stand to colonial, in the mar- 
kets of England, taking into account the protective duties, will be 
clearly seen by the following statement of the cost of production of 
each, with the duties added, and an allowance made for the extra 
value of the Cuban sugar over that of the English colonies, taking the 
period from July. 1850 to July, 1851 : 

British Muscovado costs planters per ton, £20 00s. 

Duty on do. per ton, 1100 

Total cost in market, £31 00s. 

Cuban Muscovado, do. per ton, £12 00s. 

Duty, per ton, 15 10 27 10 

Balance in favor Cuban planter, 3 10s 

Add extra value of Cuban sugar, £4 per ton 4 00 

Slave labor advantage over free labor, £7 10s. 

By reference to the table of duties, on a preceding page, it will be 
seen that if the present relations of the cost of production shall be 
maintained, when the duties become equalized, slave labor will have 
an advantage in the English market, if no change occurs in the duties, 
of £12 the^ton.t The duty on both kinds will be. in 1854, 10s. the 
cwt. or £10 the ton, and the extra value of Cuban sugar being the 
same, the profits of the slave labor sugar will be £12 the ton as above 
stated, viz : 

Cost of production of free labor, per ton, £20 00s. 

Duty on do. per ton, 10 00 

Cost in market to planter, £30 00s. 

Cost of slave labor, do £12 00s. 

Duty on do., 10 00 22 00 

Surplus profit of slave labor, 8 00s. 

Extra value of do., , 4 00 

Total excess of profit to slaveholder, £12 00s. 

Who cannot see that such advantages as the Cuban and Brazilian 
slaveholders now possess, may enable them to banish free labor sugars 
from the English markets ! But to gain a clear understanding of the 
reason why the slaveholding planters of Cuba, Brazil, <fec., can pro- 
duce sugar at a cost so much lower than those of Jamaica, and other 
free labor tropical countries, it is necessary again to call attention to 
the diflerence in their ability to command labor. In the former 
countries, not including the United States, the planters can command 

* Blackwood's Mag. 1848, p. 230. 

t The estimates have been made for Muscovadoes only, and the expense of 
freights not included. 



Present Rdations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 45 

the labor of a slave population of 4,100,000, while the latter have 
only 1,657,000.* It must be noticed, also, that this slave population 
is compelled, under the lash, to perform a full day's work every day 
in the week, and that in crop time the labor is often extended to 
eighteen hours per day ;t while the free men of Jamaica, &c., igno- 
rant, depressed, and discouraged, 6^/ unequal laivs, coiMeni themselves 
with leisurely putting in from five to seven hours in the day, during 
only three or four days of the week.J 

We certainly need not add anything more in support of the propo- 
sition, that free labor, under present circumstances, cannot compete 
ivith slave labor in tropical cultivation, and that, therefore, christian 
governments cannot escape from the necessity of consuming slave 
labor products, except by calling into active service, on an extensive 
scale, the free labor of countries not at present producing the com- 
modities upon which slave labor is employed. 

V. That Africa is the principal field where free labor can be made to 
compete, successfully, with slave labor, in the production of 
exportable tropical commodities. 

To demonstrate the truth of this proposition it is demanded ; First, 
that it be shown that the soil and climate of Africa are well adapted 
to the production of Sugar, Coflee, and Cotton ; and Second, that the 
natives can be successfully employed in their cultivation. 

In relation to the frst point, there is no longer any doubt among 
intelligent men. Coffee, equal, if not superior, to that of Java or 
Mocha, is raised in Liberia, and can be easily cultivated to any 
extent. The shrub bears fruit thirty or forty years, each producing 
ten pounds annually. Cotton, of a superior quality, yielding two 
crops a year, is indigenous, and thrives twelve or fourteen years 
without renewing the plant. Sugar Cane grows in unrivaled lux- 
uriance ; and, as there are no frosts to be dreaded, can be brought to 
much greater perfection than in our Southern States. § Other articles 
of great value are raised in Liberia, but it is unnecessary to specify 
them, or to enlarge this branch of our investigations ; as Dr. J. W. 
Lugenbeel, late United States Agent, in Liberia, and Superintendent 
of the Medical School of the Colony is pubhshing a series of essays 
upon the subject. The Doctor resided five or six years in Africa, 
and had an excellent opportunity for employing his eminent talents 
to examine the Geography, the Productions, the Climate, as well as 
the Diseases of the New Republic. His essays embrace all these 
topics, and aflbrd ample information, in relation to Liberia, for all 
who wish to learn the facts. 

On the second point much information has been collected, and it 
is no longer doubted in Liberia, that the labor of natives can be made 
available. The Colony numbers about 150,000 souls, jl Many 

» Present Lecture, p. 4t. t Second Lecture, p. 38. 

X Present Lecture, p. 43. § African Repository, July, 1850 

II President Roberts' message to Liberia Legislature, Dec, 1849. 



46 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

of these natives are becoming industrious, by the example of the 
colonists, and the desire to possess the comforts of civilized life. 
Some are partially educated, and one, a few years ago, occupied a 
seat in the Legislature. Many of them have married persons born 
in the United States, and thereby become more identified with the 
citizens of the Republic. The colonists, of abiUty, can secure, from 
the natives, all the labor necessary, at very low u'ages. This is now 
so well understood as to discourage those emigrants, from the United 
States, who desire to go as day laborers. 

Mr. Ed. J. Roye, a merchant of Monrovia, fully confirms this 
statement, in a letter to Mr. W. H. Burnham, of Zanesville, Ohio. 
He mentions it as the chief discouragement to emigrants dependent 
upon labor for a subsistence, but adds, that many of the poor Ameri- 
cans in the colony " are already turning their attention to farming, 
which pays well." "To men of character, education, wealth, and 
enterprise, nothing can be considered beyond their reach, and no 
station, in the Republic, too high to be attained." * 

At first view this seems disheartening to the poor colored man ; 
but to discerning men, Liberia presents stronger claims on this 
account. Mr. Roye's statement proves two things important to 
Europe and America. 1. That native labor can be had cheap: 2. 
That those emigrants who engage in agriculture, can do well. 

What is most important to elevate and ennoble the poor emigrant, 
is, to forget the days of his bondage, stand erect as a freeman, and 
depend alone upon the strength of his own arm, and the blessing of 
God. Cringing to others unmans him. To place him in circum- 
stances which will force him to agricultural or mechanical pursuits, 
is best calculated to create in his breast a feeling of manly indepen- 
dence. And, God willing, this is what Colonizationists are determined 
to do for the free colored people of the United States. 

The desire to possess the commodities supplied by the commerce 
of civilized nations is evidently much stronger in the people of 
Africa, even where the influence of the Colonies is but little felt, 
than in those of any other barbarous country. This desire has been 
generated by the slave trade, and is the principal obstacle to its sup- 
pression. Having no fruits of agricultural labor to ofier for the arti- 
cles they desire, slave hunts are made the means of procuring slaves 
to give in exchange. And such is the strength with which this 
desire for trafiic with foreigners operates, and such their unwilling- 
ness to be deprived of it, that in the late purchase of Gallinas, when 
tlie chiefs sold their territory to President Roberts, they expressly 
stipulated for the establishment of commerce upon a permanent basis. 
They knew very well that the slave trade was to cease from that 
moment, and, as an equivalent, demanded, not only a large sum of 
money, but that commissioners should be immediately appointed " to 
settle the wars in the country, [because wars will now no longer be 

* This seems to have been prophetic lang^uage, as, since it was written, Mr. 
Roye has held a seat in the Legislature of Liberia, and been chosen Speaker of 
the House of Representatives. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 47 

useful when the captives taken cannot be sold,) and open the trades 
in Camwood, Ivory, and Palm oil, with the interior tribes; and also to 
settle among them, as soon as convenient, persons capable of mstruct- 
ing them in the arts of Husbandry."* 

But can the native labor of Africa be made to compete with the 
slave labor of other tropical countries, and supply the ciiristian world 
with that immense amount of cofiee, sugar, and cotton, it now con- 
sumes? This is the great question. If the native be left, without 
the aid of foreign intelligence, to develop his intellectual and moral 
powers, he must remain fitted only for a life of slavery abroad, or of 
savage indolence at home. But if the Republic of Liberia be sup- 
plied with a sufficient number of industrious, intelligent, and moral 
emigrants, to enable it to extend its settlements and its laws around 
the coast, and into the interior, a few years only will elapse before 
the natives, coming under the inlluence of civilization, will experi- 
ence such an increase of wants as can be supplied only by industry. 
What has already occurred in the present settlements of Liberia will 
follow in all new ones, and a spirit of industry be awakened as far 
and as rapidly as the colonization of the country shall be accomplished. 

We have "previously shownt that the stereotyped character of the 
Pagan nations of Eastern Asia, renders it difficult to stimulate the 
inhabitants to a much greater degree of industry than already exists, 
and that such free labor cannot compete with slave labor. Why, 
then, should we expect that the native labor of heathen Africa should 
be more available, and made to compete with slave labor? The 
answer to this question is obvious. Without the introduction of 
Christian civilization, neither of them can progress. But the hum- 
ble African yields more readily to the instruction of the Christian 
missionary than the proud Asiatic. The hope of Africa's earlier 
civilization is, therefore, daily brightening, and the probability of 
exciting its inhabitants to industry becoming more certain. 

We close this part of the inquiry by a quotation from the Annual 
Report of the American Missionary Association, for 1849, which not 
only affords an explanation of the causes that make Asia less acces- 
sible to the Gospel than Africa, but supplies additional testimony in 
regard to the adaptation of the soil of Africa to the production of 
sugar and cotton. This mission had its origin in the liberation, and 
reUirn to Africa, of the Amistad slaves. It is located at Kaw-Mendi, 
on the Western coast of Africa, some distance from the sea, and lies 
oetween Sierra Leone and Liberia. The Rev. Mr. Thompson, once 
imprisoned in the Penitentiary of the State of Missouri, for aiding 
slaves to escape from their masters, is now at the head of this mis- 
sion. This testimony is valuable, coming, as it does, from Aboli- 
tionists, from whom colonization in Africa has received but little 
countenance. The Report says : 

" The sugar cane and cotton grow well in that country, and if 
American Christians could send out business men, who could teach 

* Letter of President Roberts, May 17, 1650. t Page 18. 



48 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

natives the manufacture of sugar, and the best method of raising 
cotton, it would contribute much to the overthrow of slavery, and 
facilitate the progress of the gospel. The mission makes earnest 
appeals for such assistance." The Report also says, that "Africa 
presents some peculiar advantages for missionary work, and some 
strong claims upon American christians for help." It sums them up 
as follows : 

" 1. That country is nearer to us than any other foreign mis- 
sionary field. 

" 2. The country is apparently open to us, and its governments 
will offer no serious opposition to our entering any part of it. 

" 3. The people see and appreciate the superiority of men in civil- 
ized life, and desire the cultivation which wUl raise them to the same 
grade. 

"4. There is there, no hoary and venerated system of supersti- 
tion, inwrought into the forms of society, and presenting at every 
point opposition to change. 

" A reason more powerful, perhaps, than any other, to induce us to 
engage in this work, is the deep degradation of Africa, superinduced by 
the slave trade, in which Americans have taken so prominent a part." 

Much additional testimony on this subject might be presented, but 
time will not permit. We shall, therefore, close our discussion of 
this proposition with a brief statement of the main facts by which its 
truth is sustained. 

Could England and the United States be induced to engage ener- 
getically, to promote the growth of coffee, sugar, and cotton, in Africa, 
they would gain an immense advantage over the planters of Cuba 
and* Brazil, and be able to strike an efficient blow at the slave trade 
and slavery. What are the facts ? 

For every 300 men made available, by the slave trade, to the 
Cuban and Brazillian planters, Africa loses 1,000;* or the proportion 
may be stated as three to ten. In the transfer of the three to Cuba 
and Brazil, their constitutions are impaired by the " middle passage," 
and in seven years they sink beneath the oppressive labor to which 
they are subjected. Their places must be supplied, at least every 
seven years, by /Aree others from Africa, subjecting her to the loss of 
another ten. At every point in Africa, occupied by a colony, the 
slave trade is at once excluded, and its agents are driven to other 
points to secure their victims. This will leave, at the places occu- 
pied, the whole ten men who had formerly been sacrificed to supply 
three to the Cuban planters. 

Now, though the industry of the native African should fall far 
below the standard of the ever-active and enterprising Anglo Saxon; 
yet a little consideration will enable us to perceive that, under the 
circumstances, the native population of Africa will be able, not only 
to compete with the slaves of Cuba and Brazil, but will constitute the 
only reliable force for the suppression of the slave trade. 



* Buxton, see Lecture First, p. 8. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 49 

The maximum of labor required of the three slaves in Cuba, is 
eighteen hours a day.* By preventing the transt'er of these three 
men, we shall have ten to employ in Africa. If these ten men can 
be induced to labor only Jive hours and a half per day, the product 
will more than equal that of the three in Cuba. The case would 
stand thus : 

3 slaves in Cuba, laboring 18 hours per day = 54 hours. 
10 freemen in Africa " 5^ " " = 55 " 

The ten men in Africa, laboring but 5^ hours per day, would, there- 
fore, be able to compete with the three in Cuba or Brazil, 

The reason that Jamaica, or any of the other free labor colonies, 
cannot compete with Cuba, Brazil, &c., is, that the freemen of the 
former, either from indolent habits, or from attention to cultivating 
their own small tracts of land, or from being engaged in other pur- 
suits, do not choose to labor for the sugar planters more tlian from 
Jive to seven hours a day, and from three to four days in the iveek.\ 
It is not asserted, that while engaged, the free laborer does not per- 
form as much work as a slave. The difficulty in Jamaica is, that the 
planters, out of the free population, cannot Jind men enough, to put 
in as many hours labor, as those of Cuba, by a free use of the whip, 
are able to obtain from their slaves. Laboring so irregularly, even 
were their numbers equal, it would be impossible for the 1,657,000 
colored freemen of the Western Hemisphere to compete with the 
7,657,000 slaves which it includes.^ The difficulty in making the 
free labor of the British and French West Indies compete with the 
slave labor of Cuba and Brazil, arises, therefore, from the want of an 
equal number of hands wiUing to perform an equal amount of labor 
at an equal cost. The American Colonization Society has discovered 
that this discrepancy can be remedied by a direct attention to Africa, 
which shall call into activity, as free laborers, its 160,000,000 of 
people, as rivals, in tropical cultivation, to the before mentioned 7,657,- 
000 slaves. But to obtain a clear conception of the economical 
advantages of employing the people of Africa upon their own soil, 
over that of transporting them to Cuba and Brazil, it must be recol- 
lected, that as soon as the ten men in Africa could be persuaded to 
labor ten hours a day, they would double the products of the three 
in Cuba. It must also be remembered, that the ten, remaining in 
their native clitnate, and beloyiging to a race of the greatest long- 
evity known, could be relied upon as regular laborers, for a much 
longer period than the three enfeebled and overworked slaves of 
Cuba. This remark applies equally to the whole African population. 
Under these circumstances, it is certain that the free labor of Africa, 
under proper regulations and stimulants, can be made to compete with 
the slave labor of Brazil and the Spanish Colonies. 

But there is another fact, of much importance, to be considered. 

*See Lecture Second, p. 38. t Present Lecture, p. 43. 

X Present Lecture, p. 40 to 44. 



50 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

The slave population of Brazil and the Spanish Colonies, numbering 
4,100,000, or more than one half of the whole number in the West- 
ern Hemisphere, is maintained alone by the slave trade. Destroy 
this trade, and their plantations would dwindle into insignificanee, or 
become extinct. From the rapid mortality of the imported slaves, 
these plantations require restocking from Africa every seven years. 
Cut ofi"this supply, and Cuba and Brazil would at once be rendered 
incapable of flooding the markets with cheap slave labor products, to 
the exclusion of free labor commodities. 

We have seen that the exports from the British West Indies began 
to decline from the prohibition of the slave trade, in 1808, and reached 
their minimum since the emancipation in 1838.* The diminution 
of the exports of colTee and sugar from the British and French West 
Indies, from the periods above stated, tended to increase slavery and 
encourage the slave trade.t The constantly increasing demand for 
these products must be supplied. Cuba and Brazil endeavored, by 
increasing their number of slaves, to supply the deficiency. This 
extended the slave trade, and it has continued to increase, with two 
or three slight variations, until the present moment.± Interrupt the 
kidnapping of slaves from Africa, and no new field can be found to 
supply the market. Hence, to destroy the slave trade, would direcdy 
diminish the exports of sugar and coffee from Cuba and Brazil. 

But if these prolific fountains are dried up, how is the continually 
increasing demand for these products to be supplied ? How are the 
United States, England, and the Continent of Europe to be furnished 
with these indispensable articles ? Africa seems to furnish the only 
hope. Let England, France, and the United States, make a united 
effort to extend the benefits of Christian civilization, not only around 
Ihe coast, but into the heart of this hitherto benighted portion of the 
earth, and the most cheering results might be anticipated. Let ac- 
cumulated wealth pour her exhaustless treasures in the lap of tlie 
Colonization Society, enabling it to send out to Africa multitudes of 
civilized and enlightened men, to diffuse intelligence and freedom 
along the shores of its rivers, and over its mountains and plains ! 
Let England, with her commerce, her wealth, her public spirit, and 
her Christianity, exert her powerful influences in extending her com- 
merce, her enterprise, and her civilization, among the natives of this 
extensive continent ! Let France unite her energies in these im- 
portant efforts, and soon Africa, free and prosperous, might almo«t 
supply the world with the products to which we have referred. 

From the facts before stated, it is evident that the free labor of the 
West Indies is powerless for the suppres.yio)i of the slave trade. It 
furnishes but a limited su])ply of coflee and sugar, and cannot lessen 
the immense demand for these products, which gives to tliat trade its 
profitable character. These products are of prime necessity and im- 
portance to the Christian world; and, while such a large proportion 

» Present Lecture, p. 25. + See page 30 to 40, present Lecture. 

i Present Lecture, p. 32 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 51 

of them are produced by Cuba and Brazil, we are compelled to up- 
hold slavery and the slave trade by their consumption. But establish 
their cultivation and supply, by free labor, upon a permanent basis, 
and we shall ere long be released from tliis dire necessity. Africa 
presents the principal, if not the only field, where all the means of 
thus extensively cultivating sugar, coffee, and cotton, by free labor, 
can be commanded, and from which the great markets of the world 
can be successfully supplied. The reasons for this opinion may be 
thus stated : 

If the products of free labor can be increased, they will displace an 
equal amount of the products of slave labor. This will diminish the 
demand for slaves, and, consequently, lessen the extent of the slave 
trade. But the hands now employed in free labor cannot, to any 
great degree, increase their products, even at the present cost, and 
things must remain as they now are until additional free labor is else- 
where employed. These additional laborers, ivilling to work for 
loiv loages, can only be found in suflicient numbers among the teeming 
population of Africa.* 

Africa, then, is the field, and its 160,000,000 of men must supply 
the laborers necessary to accomplish this great work. The increasing 
demand for sugar and coffee has placed the wants and interests of 
Christendom in opposition to tlie destruction of the slave trade. 
Cuba and Brazil furnish these great staples for the market, by slaves, 
as we have seen, brought from Africa. Hence, the Christian world, 
by consuming these products, have indirectly sustained both slavery 
and this abominable traffic. But let ample plantations be opened and 
cultivated in Africa, sufficient to supply the market, and you have 
removed the grand obstacle to the entire destruction of this trade in 
blood. 

To accomplish an object so desirable, more extensive plans must 
be devised ; the Colonization Society must enlarge the sphere of its 
operations, the number and character of emigrants must be increased, 
and a universal effort put forth, commensurate with the great object 
to be accomplished. 

But the direct suppression of the slave trade, as a preliminary step 
in the progress of African redemption, is impossible. The combined 
efforts of Christendom, in a forty years' struggle, have failed even in 
checking this enormous outrage upon humanity. It may be circum- 
scribed, diminished, and partially suppressed, but it must depend, for 
its tinal destruction, upon the political regeneration, together with the 
intellectual elevation and moral redemption of the entire continent. 

The alternative seems already forced upon Christendom, either to 
encourage slavery and the slave trade, by continuing to consume the 
produce of Brazil and Cuba, or to set about speedily accomplishing 
the civilization of Africa. 

* The cultivation of cotton has been commenced at the British Colony of 
Port Natal, in S. E. Africa, says the London Economist, and the labor of the 
Zooloos can be had at ten shillings tlie month. The wages of native laborers is 
about the same at Liberia. 



52 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

The great tlieater, then, upon which the battle between free labor 
and slave labor is to be fought, is in Africa; and colonization is the 
all-potent agent which is to marshal the free labor forces, and lead 
them on to victory. But this warfare, unlike all preceding contests, 
is one literally demanding that every sivord shall be beaten into 
a plowshare, and every spear into a jyrnninghook. In this campaign, 
tilling the soil, and not slaying men, is the duty required ; and the 
advantages are so decidedly with free labor, that ultimate success is 
certain. Each industrious emigrant to an African colony, will more 
than equal a dozen slaves laboring elsewhere. His example and his 
influence, acting upon the native population, will excite to industry a 
dozen, or twenty, or a hundred more ; and these, again, will exert an 
influence upon others, and so on indefinitely. 

Who can doubt, under such circumstances, that Africa, with its 
multitudinous population, is the field where free labor may be made 
successfully to compete with slave labor, in the productions to which 
we have so often referred, and that the Colonization Society is the 
medium through which, in the Providence of God, the slave trade is 
to be finally destroyed ? 

VI. That there are moral forces and commercial considerations 
now in operation, which will, necessarily, impel christian govern- 
ments to exert their influence for the civilization of Africa, and the 
promotion of the prosperity of the Republic of Liberia, as the 
principal agency in this great work, and that in these facts lies our 
encouragement to persevere in our colonization efforts. 

This proposition opens up a wide field of discussion, but in its 
consideration w^e must be brief. 

There have been moral forces acting upon England and the Uni- 
ted States, for many years past, to such an extent that these govern- 
ments have been driven to the adoption of energetic measures for 
ameliorating the condition of the people of Africa. Much has been 
done in tliese eflforts, and much more remains to be done. In the 
United States, 460,000 colored people have obtained their freedom, 
and in the English Colonies nearly 800,000 rejoice in being released 
from bondage. The slave trade has been prohibited, declared piracy, 
and costly efforts for its suppression long prosecuted. But though 
the measures devised, for the relief of the African race, by these 
governments, have failed in the accomplishment of all the good anti- 
cipated, and in some respects, most sadly failed ; yet these moral 
forces have lost none of their power, but are still propelling the two 
nations onward to the final accomplishment of the great work of 
Africa's redemption from barbarism. During the course of these 
eff'orts much light has been thrown on this subject, and it is believed 
that, through the agency of the Colonization Society, tlie proper 
principles have been developed by which the suppression of the slave 
trade and the civilization of Africa may be eff'ected. 

In making this declaration, we do not intend to claim more of 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 53 

vvisQom and philanthropy for the United States than for England. The 
difference in the character of the measures adopted, and the difference 
in the results attained, have been caused by the dilTerence in the 
circumstances of the people of the two countries. Fifty years ago 
the English people looked to the Crown and Parliament, to execute 
almost every enterprise of a religious or benevolent character. That 
government, like all others, in all its movements, has to consider well 
the promotion of its own interests. To adopt any other rule of 
action, is deliberately to aim at self-destruction. The danger, then, 
with nations, as widi individuals, when suffering humanity makes its 
appeal, is that the measures adopted for relief, may include more 
of the selfish than of the benevolent principle, and failure, or only 
partial success, attend the efforts made. 

When tlie moral forces directed against the slave trade and slavery, 
by the people of England, reached the government in sufficient power 
to compel it to action, that great leading interest of the British nation, 
the commercial element, became too closely blended widi the benev- 
olent, and the policy adopted proved to be too narrow to remove the 
evils sought to be destroyed. 

In the United States, the moral forces commenced their opera- 
tions at a very early period, and our independence had scarcely been 
attained, when the government enacted its laws for prohibiting the 
slave trade, and declared it piracy.* Since that period, they have 
acted with less force upon the government, and nearly all subsequent 
efforts have either been by a few of the States, separately, or by the 
people. This course of action seems more in accordance with, and 
necessarily to grow out of, the spirit of our free institutions. While 
the government suppresses great public evils, and oversees the civil 
and military affairs of the nation, it only protects citizens in all their 
benevolent enterprises and religious interests, but never undertakes to 
conduct or control these movements for the people. The people, 
therefore, do not depend upon the government to conduct such affairs, 
but execute, freely, their own purposes, in accordance with their 
own peculiar views. The efforts of our people, in behalf of the 
African race, have been conducted by associations of individuals, 
and, consequendy, the schemes adopted have borne the impress of 
the minds that conceived and conducted them. This has been em- 
phatically true of the American Colonization Society. Individual or 
governmental interests being in no way involved in this enterprise, 
and it being, in its origin, chiefly under the control of christian men, 
it took die broadest possible ground that christian philanthropy dic- 
tated, and thus a scheme was devised broad enough to accomplish the 
destruction of the slave trade, and the work of Africa's redemption. 
The religious element predominated in its organization, and the 
commercial was excluded. 

Had this work been undertaken by our government, it would, no 
doubt, have adopted the policy of England, and made the colony in 



* See Lectures first and second. 



54 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

Africa subservient to the interests of the parent country. Such, it 
must be expected, would have been the action of all governments in 
like cases. But the Colonization Society, originating solely in chri.<i 
tian benevolence, has only sought the welfare of the African people, 
and aimed at creating for them an independent government, to he 
conducted wholly by themselves. In this it has succeeded ; and not 
in this only, but it has developed a practical plan for the suppression 
of the slave trade, in the success of which all the nations are equally 
interested, and all may equally cooperate. 

This view of the tendency of colonization in Africa, is now 
generally entertained. Besides many other authorities of the highest 
order, it" is very fully admitted by a committee of the British Parlia- 
ment, in a recent Report on the Slave Trade. The committee first 
show that England's long-cherished plan of an armed repression of 
the slave trade — costing her one hundred and forty millions of dol- 
lars, and hundreds of the lives of her subjects — had failed in its 
object, and that no modification in the system can be expected to 
succeed, and then close with the following testimony to the system of 
colonization, as the most etfeclive mode of destroying that traffic : 

"Your committee entertain the hope, that the internal improve- 
ment and civilization of Africa will be one of the most effective 
means of checking the slave trade, and for this purpose, that the 
instruction of the natives by missionary labors, by education, and by 
all other practical efibrts, and the extension of legitimate commerce, 
ouo-ht to be encouraged wherever the influence of England can be 
directed, and especially where it has already been beneficially 
exerted."* 

This, then, is the position, in reference to the African question, 
into which we have been conducted by the operation of the moral 
forces upon England and the United States. Our scheme of Coloni- 
zation, being icfwlli/ independent of national interests, except what 
are common to all; and including within itself all the elements 
necessary to secure the civilization of Africa and the destruction of 
the slave trade ; now receives the approbation of the philanthropists 
of both countries, and secures to the RepuWic of Liberia, from the 
government of England, that countenance and aid which is the surest 
guarantee of its rising importance in the benevolent work of African 
regeneration. If, therefore. Colonization can receive sufficient aid to 
develop, fully, the elements of its organization, a speedy consum- 
mation of the great work it has in view may be anticipated. 

From whence, then, are the additional aids to come, which, added 
to the moral forces in operation, shall propel, with sutlicient rapidity, 
this great work of African civilization, and free the world from the 
reproach and the curse of the slave trade '? They exist, principally, 
it is believed, in the commercial considerations which begin to 
demand, most imperiously, that the rich lands of tropical Africa shall 
06 brought under cultivation, and made to yield to commerce those 



': North British Review, August, 3849, p. 255. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 55 

articles, which free labor and slave labor, both combined, are no« 
incapable of furnishing, in adequate quantities, from the fields ai 
present cultivated. 

The moral forces, though acting with much energy, and in other 
respects, doing much good, have been unable to destroy the slave 
trade, because ot the counteracting influence of the commercial con- 
sideralions enlisted in its behalf. But the w^ants of commerce are 
beginning to demand the execution of the plans which the moral 
forces alone could not perform. Then, as the two great elements of 
success 7iow coincide, it seems that their influence must be irresisti- 
ble, and the effect certain. The moral forces must continue to exert 
their full eflect, because they cannot become quiescent, while the 
Christian world is dependent upon slave labor annually,* 

For cotton, to the amount of . . . . 1,101,330,800 pounds. 
For coffee, to the amount of . . . . 338,240,000 " 
For sugar, at least 1,220,000,000 " 

and largely for many other articles of prime necessity. That com- 
mercial considerations are beginning to act, in the direction of 
African amelioration, with much urgency, is easily shown. The 
increased production of cofiee and cotton, throughout the world, is 
by no means keeping pace with their increased consumption. In 
former years, there was often a large stock of coffee remaining on 
hand at the close of each year. But latterly the increased consump- 
tion has been so rapid that it has gained on the production, and left a 
greatly diminished stock at the year's end. The deficit of coffee in 
the markets for 1849 advanced the price very largely, and the supply 
for the present year, as estimated by the most competent authorities,t 
will be 70,000,000 pounds beloiv the present knoicn consumption of 
Europe and the United States. 

The extensive range of statistics which have been presented, in 
relation to die production of cotton, have been mostly taken from the 
London Economist, for January 1850; and we must allow its able 
editor to sum up the results of his elaborate invtstigations.J He 
says : § 

" Now, bearing in mind that the fgures in the above tables are, 
with scarcely an exception, ascertained facts, and not estimates, let 
us sum the conclusions to which they have conducted us ; conclu- 
sions sufficient, if not to alarm us, yet certainly to create much 
uneasiness, and to suggest great caution on the part of all concerned, 
directly or indirectly, in the great manufacture of England. 

" 1 That our supply of cotton fro7n all quarter^, {excluding the 
United States,) has for many years been decidedly, though irregularly, 
decreasing. 

" 2. That our supply of cotton from all quarters, (including the 
United States,) available for home consumption, has of late years 

* See Present Lecture, p. 30. + Hunt's Merchant's Magazine, Aug. 1850. 
+ Page 35. ^ The italics are his own. 



56 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

been falling ofF at the rate of 400,000 pounds a week, while our con- 
sumption has been increasing during the same period at the rate of 
1,440,000 pounds a week. 

" 3. That the United States is the only country where the growth 
of cotton is on tlie increase ; and that there even the increase does 
not on an average exceed 3 per cent, or 32,000,000 pounds annually, 
which is barely sufficient to supply the increasing demand for its 
own consumption, and for the continent of Europe. 

" 4. That no stimulus of price can materially augment this annual 
increase, as the planters always grow as much cotton as the negro 
population can pick. 

" 5. That, consequently, if the cotton manufacture of Great Bri- 
tain is to increase at all — on its present footing — it can only be 
enabled to do so by applying a great stimulus to the growth of cot- 
ton in other countries adapted for the culture."* 

The writer also presents the following historical sketch of thf 
cotton trade of England, and closes with a statement of the reason 
why other countries have diminished their production of cotton. 
It will be seen that it is due to the fact, that they are unable to com- 
pete with the United States in its production. We can supply the 
markets so much cheaper than they are able to do, that our cotton is 
driving theirs from the English market. The writer says : 

" Within the memory of many now living, a great change has 
taken place in the countries from which our main bulk of cotton is 
procured. In the infancy of our manufacture our chief supply came 
froin the Mediterranean, especially from Smyrna and Malta. Neither 
of these places now sends us more than a iew chance bags occasion- 
ally. In the last century the West Indies were our principal source. 
In the year 1786, out of 20,000,000 pounds imported, 5,000,000 
came from Smyrna, and the rest from the West Indies. In 1848 the 
West Indies sent us only 1,300 bales, (520,000 pounds.) In 1781, 
Brazil began to send us cotton, and the supply thence continued to 
increase, though irregularly, till 1830, since which time it has fallen 
off to one half. About 1822, Egyptian cotton began to come in 
considerable quantities ; its cultivation having been introduced into 
that country two years before. The import exceeded 80,000 bales, 
(32,000,000 pounds,) in 1845. Tlie average of the last three years 
has not been a third of that quantity. Cotton has always been 
grown largely in Hindostan, but it did not send much to England till 
about thirty years ago. In the five years, ending in 1824, the yearly 
average import was 33,000 bales; in 1841 it reached 274,000; and 
may now be roughly estimated at 200,000 bales a year, (80,000,000 
pounds.) 

" Now what is the reason why these countries, after having at one 
time produced so largely and so well, should have ceased or curtailed 

*We have not copied all the tables of figures from which these opinions have 
oeen formed, but only such as were needed in our argument. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 57 

their growth within recent years ? It is clearly a question of price. 
Let us consider a few of the cases : 



At the dose of the years, 


Lowest 

price of 

Pcrnambuco, 


Fall 
per 

cent. 


Lowest 

price of 

Marauham 


Fall 1 Lowest 
per 1 price of 
cent. Egyptian. 


Fall j Jiowest 
per 1 price of 
cent. Surat. 


-FSi 
per 
cent. 


1836-1839 inclusive 
1840 1843 


nj 

Id 

hid 


36" 


^1^ 


42 1 bid 


i? 


A^d 

nd 




1844-1848 


40 







"Here, surely, may be read the explanation of the deplorable fall- 
ing off in our miscellaneous supply." 

From these facts, thus clearly stated by the Economist, and which 
can be supported from many other authorities, it is plain that there 
are at least two commodities. Coffee and Cotton, which are not sup- 
plied in adequate quantities, eye« 6?/ the combmed efforts of both free 
and slave labor; nor can the commercial demand, especially for cot- 
ton, be met but by an extension of its cultivation to other countries 
not engaged in its production. 

Cotton, is so essential to England, that she must have a supply 
upon which she can depend. A short crop in the United States, 
like that of 1847, or the occurrence of any event which would di- 
minish our production to any extent, would affect the commercial 
and manufacturing interests of Great Britian most seriously — so 
seriously, indeed, that, as a wise government, she is bound to protect 
herself against such a contingency. The truth of this assertion is 
made apparent, at once, on taking a view of the value of her exports 
of cotton goods, as compared with those of her other manufactures. 



Exports of Cotton Goods, by England, in the years stated. 



1834* 

1835* 
1836* 



value 



$102,5ei7,930 

110,498,665 

• 153,014,560 



1837* value 
1848t " 
1849t " • 



$102,940,410 
114,406,000 
139,453,970 



TVoollcn Goods. 
1848t value . $32,554,815 | 1849t value . $42,096,650 

Silk Manufactures. 
18481 value . $2,940,585 | 1849t value . $5,001,785 

Linen Munxfactures. 
1848t value . $16,481,190 | 18491 value . $20,517,215 

Truly, her Cotton Manufactures is the right arm of England, be- 
cause it is the principal element in sustaining her commerce. This 
great leading interest, then, she will never consent to sacrifice. But 
it is now threatened with an insufficient supply of the raw material. 
The efforts to extend the cultivation of cotton in India, by native labor, 
have been abortive ; that for introducing it into the heart of Africa, by 
the agency of ivhite men, at the time of the Niger expedition, proved 
disastrous ; and the British government is now anxiously looking 



*M'Cullough, vol. 1, p. 654. 
5 



tLoniion Economist, Feb. 1850, p. 196. 



58 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

abroad for the means of placing its cotton manufactures in a condition 
^of greater security. The diminishing production in all other countries, 
but ours, is alarming to her, when she considers that the increased 
production in the United States, has been, and will probably continue 
to be, only equal to the increase of the slave population — viz : 3 per 
cent, per annum* — and that this increased production is all required 
by the increased demand consequent upon the multiplication of 
spindles and looms in the United States and on the Continent of 
Europe. It must also be noticed, that the demand for cotton fabrics 
is increasing in proportion to the increase of wealth and the extension 
of civilization. Without an increased supply of the raw material. 
Great Britain, therefore, cannot participate in the advantages of this 
increasing demand, and must suffer loss. This is a position she will 

*At a subsequent date, from that before quoted, tiie Loudon Economist, 
prompted by the suggestions of many English friends, resumed the consideration 
of the subject of tlie probable increase of the ratio of cotton production in the 
United States. It had been urged, that by the transfer of the slave population 
from other districts and other pursuits to that of cotton, the ratio of increase 
might be augmented so that the production in the United States should be made 
to equal the increasing consumption. But the conclusion arrived at is adverse 
to this view, and his opinion strengthened that the United States cannot meet 
the growing demands of commerce. 

But there is one consideration which the Economist has overlooked, and which 
seems to liave been but seldom noticed, that will be found to present an impassa- 
ble barrier to the unlimited exlension of cotton production in the United States. 
We refer to the Geology of the cotton region of this country; and we do so be- 
cause tiie importance of the facts we state will be understood in England. 

Public duties have taken us over many parts of the cotton growing States, 
including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. 
A considerable portion of the uplands of the tiiree first-named States, are com- 
posed of Primary rocks, having often but a light covering of soil, which, from its 
loose porous nature, on cultivation, is easily swept away by heavy rains, or soon 
becomes exhausted by a succession of crops. The more common plan of renew- 
ing such exhausted lands, is to abandon their cultivation until a new growth of 
timber, arising and maturing, and shedding its foliage from year to year, restores 
a new soil, to be again cultivated and again abandoned. There are lands in North 
Carolina which have been thus turned out and re-enclosed three or four times 
since the settlement of the country. 

Another portion of these States consists of the sands, clays, marls, &c., of the 
Tertiary formation, some of which furnish more permanent soils than the Pri- 
mary; but all of which are liable to exhaustion, to a greater or less extent, under 
cultivation, and demand manuring to keep them productive. 

The valleys are mostly of Alluvial deposites, and often of inexhaustible fertility. 
And last, there is a limited extent of these States composed of the Chalk, or 
Rotten Limestone, as it is locally called. This formation usually affords rich soils. 

In Mississippi and Alabama, and the cotton growing portion of Tennessee, the 
Primary rocks do not appear; but the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous 
limestones, sandstones, and shales, mostly constitute the highlands. In the lime- 
stone districts the soils are generally rich, and, with proper attention to manur- 
ing, will remain inexhaustible. The sandstone and shale districts of course 
afford soils liable to exhaustion, unless recourse is had to Iming as well as jnan- 
uring. A considerable portion of the surface, in the mountainous and hilly 
regions, occupied by these formations, is too rugged and rocky for cultivation. 

The less elevated districts of these States, are composed of alternate beds of 
pure sands and clays, and of ferruginous sands and clays, and marlite, of the 
Tertiary formation ; or the massive Chalk deposites ; or of Diluvium, Post- 
Diluvium ( ?) and Alluvium. The soils of the Tertiary are very variable in their 



Present Relations of Fret Labor to Slave Labor. 59 

not long occupy — that she does noineed to occupy — because she can 
release herself from it. 

But in the efforts hitherto made by England, and seconded by other 
Christian nations, she has been driven from measure to measure — 
each seeming to promise success, and each, in succession, partially 
or totally failing — until this moment, when commercial considera- 
tions are pressing, with their strongest force, for the extension of 
cotton cultivation to other countries than those now engaged in its 
production. Now, the most remarkable feature in the partial successes 
and complete failures of the national scliemes for the destruction of 
the slave trade, and kindred evils, is the evidence they afford of a 
superintending Providence, overruling in the affairs of men for the 
accomplishment of His own purposes through the agency of individ- 
uals or nalions. It now begins to appear, as clear as the sun at 

qualities — the clay and sandy strata soon becoming exhausted and the ferruginous 
and marly portions often being very durable. The chalk supplies some of the 
richest soils known, but in places having only a thin covering of soil and being 
nearly pure carbonate of lime, in dry seasons, the cotton, as the planters express 
it, is often burnt out. With abundance of manure, this formation can be kept 
perpetually fertile. It is of considerable extent in Mississippi and Alabama- 
The fertility of the Alluvium of the valleys is, of course, mostly inexhaustible- 
The Diluvium is of limited range and the Post-Diluvium more extensive. Both 
afford some good soils and much that are soon exhausted. 

The indispensable article of manure, throughout the three States first named, 
is difficult to obtain. The cultivation of cotton affords nothing but the meager 
supply of its own seed for restoring the fertility of the soil, and this seed is mostly 
used on the corn crop. The chief remaining method of supplying manures, is 
tedious and expensive, and is accomplished by collecting the fallen leaves from 
the forest trees of the mountains or nearest uncultivated lands. These are 
thrown in bulk into the farm yards, wliere cattle are confined, until sufficiently 
rotted and intermixed with excrement, when the mass is strewed in the drills 
during the planting of the cotton crop. 

Manuring has not yet been much resorted to in the fresher lands of the south 
western States. All these lands, except the Alluvium, in all these States, will 
need manures to sustain their fertility. But in cultivating cotton exclusively, 
manures, in sufficient quantities, cannot be produced, as they may in grain-growing 
districts, to keep up the productiveness of the lands; and, consequently, the 
production of cotton cannot be increased in a ratio much beyond that of the 
present. If cotton only is cultivated, the lands become exhausted; and if a sys- 
tem of rotation of crops be adopted, to prevent the exhaustion of the soil, the 
quantity of cotton is diminished. It will be amusing to the English Scientific 
Agriculturist to know, that so far as any reference is had to the restoration of 
the fertility of the soil, in the Carolinas, by a change of crops, the system of 
rotation has been Cotton and Vine ! Cotton and Pine 1 I Arkansas and Texas 
possess nearly the same geological characteristics as Georgia, Mississippi, and 
Alabama. 

Without entering into further details, we are convinced that, as a Geologist, 
we hazard but little in saying, that a considerable portion of the cotton lands, of 
the older southern States, must continue to wear out under constant cultication ; 
and that similar results, though less rapid in their operation, owing to differ- 
ences in their Geology, must also follow in the newer States ; and that, therefore, 
the diminution in the quantity of lands that will remunerate the cultivator, though 
for the present not equal to the quantity of new lands brought into use, will, 
nevertheless, reach to such an extent as to render it impossible, for any great 
number of years, to increase the production of cotton much beyond the present 
ratio of three per cent, per aunum. 



60 i^reseni Reunions of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

noonday, that all these combinations of events — succeeding as they 
have done, each other — have tended to one grand result, worthy of the 
wisdom of Deity ; and that result the involving of the principal nations 
of Christendom in such difficulties and perplexities — all seeming to be 
the natural fruits of tlieir former connection with African oppression — 
as must impel them forward, from necessity, moral and commercial, 
to the civilization of Africa. 

The London Economist, in the article before quoted, after having 
shown that Brazil, Egypt, and the East Indies, cannot be relied upon 
to meet tlie wants of the English manufacturers, says : 

"Our hopes lie in a very different direction ; we look to our West 
Indian, African, and Australian colonies, as the quarters from which, 
would government only afford every possible facility, we might, ere 
long, draw such a supply of cotton, as would, to say the least, make 
the fluctuations of the American crop, and the varying proportions of 
it which falls to our share, of far less consequence to our prosperity 
than they now are." 

But we must hasten to a conclusion. Commercial considerations, 
of overwhelming force, are impelling England to powerful efforts to 
secure to herself a certain and adequate supply of cotton. This 
she cannot obtain but in promoting its growth in other countries 
than those now producing it. The West Indies, in their present 
circumstances — nor until the missionaries now laboring there succeed 
in elevating the people, and more equal laws prevail — cannot supply 
this demand, nor even then without an increase of population. There 
will, therefore, be only two fields remaining, Australia and Africa. 
Of the two, without entering into detail, we must insist tliat Africa is 
the more promising, and success in it the more certain ; not only from 
the character and abundance of its population, but because the moral 
forces will be exerted in behalf of Africa more fully than for Australia. 
The reason is obvious : diough Australia may be adapted to cotton, 
its cultivation there, and the civilization of its natives, cannot be made 
to act so directly and efficiendy upon the slave trade, as the promotion 
of its growth will do in Africa. And, besides this important consid- 
eration, the population of Australia, including emigrants and convicts 
transported thence, is only 300,000 — a number too insignificant to 
accomplish much in cotton cultivation after producing necessary arti- 
cles of subsistence. In the native population of Australia, "human 
nature wears its rudest form," and they are declared to be, both phy- 
sically and intellectually, the most degraded of any savage tribes. 
Tlv^ir numbers have been estimated at 100,000,* and it may safely be 
said, that it is useless to take them into the account in estimating 
free labor agencies for tropical cultivation. It must be apparent, 
therefore, that both the moral forces and commercial considerations, 
operating in England in behalf of an extended Cotton cultivation, 
must be directed to Africa, almost exclusively, and, in turning to 
Africa, must, necessarily, be concentrated upon Liberia as the great 
center of action. 

* Encyclopedia of Greography, vol. 3, p. 127. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 61 

Thus stands the Cotton question in England. Her supply of tliat 
article from the United States has reached its maximum, and from all 
other quarters has been steadily diminishing; placing her under the 
necessity of securing, from Liberia, the demands of her increasing 
consumption. In the production of Sugar and Coflee in Africa, 
Great Britain is not so deeply interested — her chief supplies of these 
articles being obtained from her colonies. But from moral and com- 
mercial considerations she would prefer to substitute 146,000,000 
lbs. of Liberia Sugar for that amount of slave labor product now con- 
sumed by her; because she desires to discountenance slavery, and 
because freemen in Liberia will need more of her fabrics, in exchange, 
than the Brazilian planters will purchase for their half-naked slaves. 
We may, therefore, rely upon England as the fast friend of Liberia 
and of African civilization. 

In the United States the moral forces have long been operating 
with great efficiency for African civilization. The commercial con- 
siderations are now also beginning to be felt with a good degree of 
power.* On this subject, however, we cannot at present enlarge, 
but must be content with calling special attention to one point. 

The great element in the United States, for the promotion of Afri- 
can civilization, consists in our industrious and intelligent free colored 
population. The facts presented in the present Lecture, with the 
inducements previously existing, should inchne them to flock to Africa. 
In Liberia, the colored' man has secured to him all the privileges of a 
freeman. There he can have schools and colleges for the education 
of his children, and enjoy civil and religious liberty. He can assist 
in the great work of African civilization, and aid in destroying the 
slave trade. He has there a fair field for the acquisition of wealth, 
and the enjoyments it secures. That these promises are not illusive, 
but will be fulfilled, is easily proved. Our investigations show, that 
the demand for an increased amount of Cotton, afi'ords a guaranty 
that the labor of the Liberians would pay, if directed to its produc- 
tion. The increasing demand for Coffee cannot be supplied but by 
its cultivation in Liberia, or by an increase of slaves in Brazil, and a 
corresponding increase of the slave trade. The consumption of this 
article has increased in a ratio oi five per cent, per annum. The 
demand for 1850 is estimated at 630,000,000 lbs. The production 
of 1849 was only 426,000,000 lbs., and the stock of old Coff'ee on 
hand but 134,000,000 lbs., leaving a deficit for the present year, 1850, 
of 70,000,000 Ibs.t Brazil now supplies over two-ffths of the whole 
amount of Coflfee consumed, and cultivates it at a cost one-third less 
than other countries. But she cannot extend her cultivation at pres- 
ent, for want of slaves, and should Great Britain compel her to sus- 
pend the slave trade, which is probable, there must be a diminution 
of her production. Its cultivation in other countries, where it has 
been declining, cannot be revived for many years.| It is almost 

* See the Report of a Committee of Congress on the establishment of a line 
of steam vessels between the United States and Liberia. 

t Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, Aug., 1850. % Ibid. 



62 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 



certarin, therefore, that the production of Coffee within the present 
limits of its cultivation, can do no more than make up the deficiency 
now existing, and keep up the supply to the present demand of 630,- 
000,000 lbs. annually ; and it is more than probable that even this 
cannot be elFected, because, if the crop of 1850 only equals that of 
1849, the deficit for 1851 will be 200,000,000 lbs., being nearly 
equal to one-third the consumption. This, then, will leave at least 
the increasing demand of five per cent, per annum to be supplied by 
Liberia; and, behold, what a vast source of wealth even this one 
article opens up to the citizens of that Republic ! 

The following tabular statement, prepared at our request, by Mr. 
J. M. M. Wilson, a graduate of Miami University, presents at one 
view, the extent and value, during the next fifteen years, of this Jive 
per cent, ratio of annual increasing consumption of Coffee : 

Tabular Statement of the amount and value of Coffee which will be demanded by 
a ratio of increase of Jive per cent, per annum on the present consumption. 





Amount required. 


Annual increase. 


Increase over 


Value— Dollaxg, 




lbs. 


lbs. 


1850. 


at 6 cts. per lb. 


1850, 


630,000,000 
661,500,000 








1851, 


*3i,5bo,6o6' 


' '3i,500,00b* 


$1,890,666* 


1852, 


694,575,000 


33,075,000 


64,575,000 


3,874,500 


1853, 


729,303,750 


34,729,750 


99,303,750 


5,958,225 


1834, 


765,768,937 


36,465,185 


135,768,937 


8,146,136 


1855, 


804,057,384 


38,288,447 


174,057,384 


10,443,443 


1856, 


844,260,252 


40,202,869 


214,260,253 


12,855,615 


1857, 


886,473,265 


42,213,013 


256,473,265 


15,388,395 


1858, 


930,786,923 


44,323,663 


300,796,928 


18.047,815 


1859, 


977,336,674 


46,539,746 


347,336,674 


20,840,200 


1860, 


1,026,503,508 


48,866,834 


399,203,508 


23,772,210 


1861, 


1,077,513,233 


51,310,175 


447,513,233 


26.850,793 


1862, 


1,131,388,895 


53,875,062 


501,388,895 


30,083,333 


1863, 


1,187,958,340 


56,569,445 


557,958,340 


33,477,500 


1864, 


1,247,356,257 


59,397,917 


617,356,257 


36,841,375 


1S65, 


1,309,724,070 


62,367,813 


679,724,070 


40,783,307 



We should not have introduced this table, but for its value in 
affording a true idea of the growing commercial importance of the 
cultivation of the lands of Liberia. It shows that the annual ratio 
of increase, aside from the large deficit in the supply of Coflee, is at 
this moment, worth nearly two millions of dollars, and that in fifteen 
years it will be worth over forty millions I .' The increased demand 
for Cotton will be of nearly equal importance. To this must be 
added her sugar, indigo, dye-woods, palm oil, ivory, &c., &c., and 
the new Republic assumes an importance, in the commercial world, 
only surpassed by the moral influence she is destined to exert over 
the whole continent. Indeed, her commercial progress already has 
been astonishing. Five or six years ago, her exports were about 
$100,000, but now they are $500,000, and rapidly increasing. Libe- 
rians comprehend the advantageous position they have secured, and 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 63 

are eager to develop the resources of their country. Their greatest 
want is men. They appeal to us for industrious, intelligent, enter- 
prising, upright emigrants, to aid them in unfolding to the world the 
long-hidden treasures of Africa, and to participate in the advantages 
that her riches will bestow. Are not colored men, in this country, 
able to comprehend the value of these resources ? Must we con- 
clude that they will remain indifferent, and reject the rich inherit- 
ance offered in Liberia, and tell the world that they have less 
foresight, energy, and enterprise, than other races of men? We 
cannot believe this. 

But the discussion of this proposition must be closed. Our Re- 
public occupies a very peculiar and important position. We have 
the agents necessary to effect the moral regeneration of Africa ; and 
if they be treated as men, and liberal provision be made for emigra- 
tion, by the States and the General Government, our intelligent colored 
men will not shrink from duty. 

A crisis has arrived in the commercial world, in which there is an 
inadequate supply of two of the leading staples upon which slave 
labor is employed. Free and slave labor combined have failed to 
supply the consumption, and an increase of price has occurred suffi- 
cient to give a stimulus to their production. This increased produc- 
tion must occur either in Brazil and Cuba, or free labor must be 
sufficiendy stimulated to meet the demand. But where and how is 
this to be accomplished ? There is little hope of its soon occurring 
in the East or West Indies. Already at one point in Liberia, nearly 
30,000 coffee trees are maturing, and will soon afford 300,000 lbs. a 
year for export. There might, and would have been, had the peopl-e 
of the United States performed their duty, 700 such plantations in 
Liberia at this moment, ready to supply 200,000,000 lbs. of Coffee 
annually. Had the growth of Liberia not been retarded by the nar- 
row policy that opposed Colonization, it requires litde discernment 
to perceive, that this increasing demand might have been supplied by 
the labor of the freemen of the African Republic, instead of beino- 
left as a tempting prize, to be seized by the Brazilian planter and the 
African slave trader. The crisis now existing, therefore, demands 
the united exertions of all the friends of humanity, both at the North 
and the South, to push forward, with the utmost energy, the work of 
Colonization, as the only means of checking the extension of slavery 
and the slave trade. The wants of commerce demand, and nmst 
receive, an adequate supply of Coffee and Cotton, and we must 
either secure that supply from Liberia, or submit to see an increase 
of cruelty and oppression in Cuba and Brazil. 

We might greatly enlarge upon the extent to Avhich moral forces 
and commercial considerations are pressing the English and American 
people to promote African civilization, through the agency of Liberia, 
but what has been said mnst suffice. 

VIL That all these agencies and influences being brought to bear 
upon the Civilization of Africa, from the nature of its soil., climate, 



64 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

products, and population, we are forced to believe that a mighty 
people will ultimately rise upon that continent, taking rank with 
the most powerful nations of the earth, and vindicate the character 
of the A.frican race before the world. 

We cannot, at present, enter upon the discussion of this proposi- 
tion. It includes a field of great interest, which would be amply 
broad for a whole discourse. But we must leave it as an expression 
of our anticipation of the ultimate destiny of Africa, and close with 
a few remarks. 

Our last Lecture presented the African under the influence of de- 
grading superstition, and the brutalizing effects of the slave trade. 
The picture was dark indeed. In the present Lecture we had designed 
to present many evidences of his nobleness of character, when such 
debasing causes do not influence his actions. But we must defer 
them, and limit ourselves to a few points more closely connected with 
the subjects we have been discussing. 

It has been fashionable to charge upon the slaveholder equal crim- 
inality with the African kidnapper and slave trader, because the fore- 
fathers of the slaves held in bondage were originally brought from 
Africa. As our diploma does not bear date from Mount Ebal,* and 
we are not trained to cursing, we shall be excused for speaking more 
calmly upon this point, and taking a more comprehensive view of its 
relations. Let the criminality of the slaveholder be what it may, it 
will be proper to examine the facts and ascertain whether others are 
not equally implicated in the guilt. Slaveholders are now producing, 
annually, more than eleven hundred millions of pounds of Cotton, 
and more than twelve hundred and twenty millions of pounds of Su- 
gar, and nearly three hundred and forty millions of pounds of Cofiee. 
Do they consume these articles themselves ? Are these products so 
polluted that the world will neither touch, taste, nor handle them ? 
Not at all. The great struggle everywhere is as to who shall obtain 
the greatest quantity of them, who make the greatest profit, and who 
derive most comfort from their consumption. This is especially 
true of London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paris, Vienna, 
Berlin, Brussels, Hamburgh, Stockholm, Amsterdam, and St. Peters- 
burgh, as well as of Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, 
and Cincinnati. The early abolitionists endeavored to prove, that 
the slaveholder was equally guilty with the slave trader and kidnap- 
per, because the former received his slaves from the hands of the lat- 
ter ; and that those who now hold in bondage the descendants of the 
stolen slaves, are equally guilty with the original kidnapper. Ac- 
cording to this logic, that " the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the 
children's teeth are set on edge," is a true proverb — and the men of 
the seventh generation, involved in an evil without their consent, by 
the actions of their forefathers, are equally guilty with its originators. 
If this be sound logic, then the manufacturer who buys slave grown 
Cotton, and makes it into cloth, is equally guilty with the slaveholder 

^ Deut. 27'ri87~ 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 65 

himself who produces it. But the implication in guilt, if guilt there 
be, does not stop here. He who purchases and wears the goods 
manufactured from slave grown cotton, is also implicated ; and as 
there is annually consumed over eleven hundred millions of pounds 
of slave grown cotton, and barely seventy-eight millions of free labor 
growth, it follows that all Christendom is involved in the same con- 
demnation. These facts serve to illustrate one of our positions — 
tliat the Christian world cannot avoid consuming the products of 
slave labor, and thereby encourage slavery and the slave trade, but by 
civilizing Africa. 

There is one plan to avoid this great evil, and in an hour free our- 
selves from it, and that is to burn down all the cotton factories in 
JEiirojoe and America, and suffer none to be erected in their stead. 
But what would the world gain by the sacrifice ? or rather, what 
would it lose ? Commerce, the great agent in the world's civiliza- 
tion, would be destroyed. A check upon commerce is a check upon 
civilization. Human progress and human happiness materially de- 
pend upon commerce. But it is not practicable, even were it desi- 
rable, to destroy these factories to eradicate slavery. It is impossible 
to destroy them. The /jeci<«?ar?/ considerations involved are more 
powerful than the moral. The owners of these factories will con- 
tinue to manufacture slave grown cotton ; commerce z^j7/ continue to 
transmit the products of the looms to every corner of the world ; 
and the earth's population will continue to wear these fabrics. The 
slave grown sugar and coffee will also be consumed ; because a sup- 
ply from free labor cannot be obtained. As it is impracticable, then, 
to prevent the consumption of slave grown coffee, sugar, and cotton, 
on account of the pecuniary profit and personal comfort they afford 
to mankind, so it is alike impossible to abolish slavery while the 
world continues to consume the products of its labor. Our own 
view, as expressed in the outset, is, that the Avhole Christian world 
is involved in this evil. Is there any more criminality in superin- 
tending the production of slave grown cotton, than in overseeing its 
mamfacture, or in being clothed with the fabrics into which it has 
been transformed ? Is the Louisiana or Cuban planter more criminal 
in raising, and sending to market, his crop of sugar, than the aboli- 
tionist of London or Boston is for sweetening his coffee, his tea, or 
his poundcake with the same article ? Is the Brazilian slaveholder 
more guilty for furnishing coffee, by the labor of his slaves, than the 
merchant is for purchasing and selling it to all the anti-slavery men 
in Ohio? Are they innocent for greedily drinking it, knowing it to 
be procured by the lash of the task-master? If coffee were not 
consumed, none would be raised. If sugar were not used, none 
would be made. If cotton were not manufactured and worn, none 
would be grown. Hence slavery would be abolished ! Who then 
supports slavery and the slave trade, but the one who consumes 
its products? We leave these questions to every man's conscience. 
In the present crisis we would approach our southern brethren in 
the langiiaire of the sons of Jacob, nnd say : " fFe are verilv guilty 
12 



66 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when 
he besought us, and we would not hear ; therefore is this distress 
come upon us ; " and in the spirit of christian liberality, propose 
some plan that would equalize the burden of relieving the country 
from the distracting evils of slavery. Capitalists at the south buy 
negroes because the investment is profitable, and they can no more 
be expected to emancipate their slaves, while their labor is profitable, 
than northern men can be expected to burn their factories or banks 
with all their valuable contents. 

But what is there to prevent a change in this condition of things ? 
Must it remain forever? Must slavery, acknowledged on all hands, 
except by a very few, to be an evil, continue as a perpetual source 
of discord, endangering the safety of the Union, or affording a 
fruitful theme of excitement for fanatics and demagogues ? Men 
may transfer their property, at pleasure, into cash, whether it be in 
lands, manufactories, or slaves. They are governed only by interest 
and inclination in such matters. Convince the slaveholder that he can 
do better than to invest his money in slaves, and he will not buy tliera. 
But when the investment is made, and you ask him to emancipate, 
without compensation, he considers it an unreasonable demand. 
Emancipation in the West Indies, he knows, has resulted in pecun- 
iary ruin to the master, and has increased slavery in the aggregate, 
instead of diminishing it. It is of the first importance, therefore, in 
the adoption of any emancipation schemes, that an adequate number 
of efiicient free laborers should be secured to supply the place of the 
slaves. Unless this can be done with safety to the planter, he will 
not risk the change ; and unless the plan be such an one as will not 
create a fresh demand for slaves elsewhere, and produce an increase 
of the slave trade, humanity would forbid its adoption. Then devise 
a plan by which a productive free labor can be substituted for slave 
labor, and the master receive compensation for his slaves, and he 
would, no doubt, gladly free himself from the inconveniences and 
want of safety of his position. 

There are many reasons why such a change would be acceptable 
to the South. A feeling favorable to emancipation, independent of 
compensation, has long existed there, and legislative action has been 
deemed necessary to prevent too great an increase of free blacks. 
The laws forbidding emancipation, except on condition of the 
removal of the freed man, have been approved by the friends of 
emancipation ; because the two leading objects they have in view, are, 
to better the condition of the slave, and to throw their own sons in a 
position of self-dependence, that would lead them to industry. To 
secure both these objects, demands the removal of the colored peo- 
ple. But as no efficient system exists in the slave States, for the 
encouragement of white labor, and as none can be adopted while the 
blacks remain, many of the enterprising whites, of small means, have 
yearly emigrated to the free States. This has been most injurious to 
the slave States. Each white man, who emigrated, was a loss to 
them and a gain to the free States. Thousands upon thousands ol 



Present, Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 67 

the best citizens of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, are from the slave 
States, and abandoned their former homes on account of their dislike 
to place their sons, as laborers, on an equality with slaves, and in the 
midst of the demoralizing influences that slavery generates. It is 
this tide of emigration which is so seriously checking southern pros- 
perity and keeping the numerical strength of the slave States so much 
below that of the free. But this dislike of freemen to labor on au 
equality with slaves, influences not only the southern white man of 
moderate means, but it prevents foreign emigrants from choosing their 
homes in the "sunny south" instead of the chilly north. Neither 
can emancipation, alone, check this tide of white emigration from 
the slave States, nor attract the foreign emigrant to them. The free 
colored people exert as paralyzing an effect upon industry there, as 
the presence of the slaves ; and, to secure the objects aimed at, colo- 
nization must be connected with emancipation. This effect of the 
presence of emancipated slaves, upon the industry of the whites, is 
not confined alone to the United States. It has been a legitimate 
result of African slavery wherever it has existed. According to Mr. 
Bigelow, whose letters have been already quoted, it has been pecu- 
liarly the case in Jamaica. In summing up the causes which have 
continued to depress the prosperity of that island, since emancipation, 
he places, first in the list, the dislike of the whites to labor with a 
people of servile origin, and the aptness of the blacks to adopt their 
idle habits. His first cause of industrial depression is thus stated : 

" 1. The degradation of labor, in consequence of the yet compar- 
atively recent existence of negro slavery upon the Island, which 
excludes the white population from almost every department of pro- 
ductive industry, and begets a public opinion calculated to discourage, 
rather than promote industry among the colored population." 

Mr. Bigelow is of the opinion that the English Government takes 
this view of the subject ; and, with the design of correcting the evils 
and restoring the prosperity of the Island, is contemplating the with- 
drawal of the white population, and allowing the colored people to 
become the proprietors of the soil. Now, if it be so, that the pros- 
perity of the West India Islands demands a separation of the races, 
where it is the boast that so little prejudice against color exists, how 
much more imperiously is the separation of the blacks and whites 
demanded in this CQuntry, where prejudice against color is supposed 
to be so much stronger ; but which, in fact, may be called by another 
name, because it is founded, not so much in relation to color as to 
the habits engendered by slavery, and to which, color is supposed 
to be a certain index, as it reveals the servile origin of its possessor. 
Colonization is the true remedy, to the colored people, for this social 
evil, as it is also the true means of stimulating the industry of the 
whites where slavery has existed. 

But there is another depressing cause, weighing down the colored 
man, for which Colonization is the only remedy. While he remains 
among those to whom he, or his fathers, were formerly in bondage, 
his presence not only continues to degrade labor, and prevent industry 



68 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

among the whites, but he continues to feel a sense of inferiority that 
retards improvement. The remedy for this, is his removal from the 
scenes that remind him of his former servile condition, and especially 
his separation from the race which held him in bondage. This opinion 
of the unfavorable condition in wliich the colored people are placed, 
is becoming general. It is a great truth, which is fast forcing itself 
upon minds that hitherto would not admit it for a moment. Even the 
National Era, the Abolition organ, has been led to embrace views 
corresponding so closely with this as to be its equivalent. In an 
article headed " Free Labor versus Slave Labor," the editor expresses 
the opinion, that emancipation in the United States would lead to the 
concentration of the colored people in the South, and the displace- 
ment of the laboring whites, and produce beneficial results. He 
says : 

" The aggregation of the negroes would necessarily build up a 
public opinion of their own, a feeling of nationality, which is es- 
sential to the development of character. This they never can have 
while dispersed over so wide an extent of country, among an 
unfriendly people, who trample on their rights and treat them as 
outcasts."* 

It will be apparent, on slight examination, that the aggregation of 
the colored people and the displacement of the whites, must be a 
very different thing in the United States from what it would be in 
Jamaica. The removal of 16,000 whites, (about 3,000 families,) in 
that Island, from a colored population of nearly 400,000 persons, 
will be a trifling task compared with the rooting out of the immense 
white population of one-third of the States of this Union .' The 
former is practicable, the latter impossible; and the sooner it is dis- 
missed from any part of the public mind the better. The truth is, 
that the only hope of placing the colored people of the United States 
beyond the influence of those " who trample on their rights and treat 
them as outcasts," and where there would necessarily grow up " a 
public opinion of their own, a feeling of nationality, ivhich is es- 
sential to the development of character,^'' is not to retain them as 
free laborers in the service of the southern planter, as the Era's 
scheme contemplates, but to afford them the means of reaching Libe- 
ria, where they may, themselves, be the landed proprietors in a 
Republic of their own, instead of remaining here as serfs in the land 
of their former bondage. These are the different destinies that Colo- 
nization and Abolition have in store for the African race. 

But can such a substitution of free labor for slave labor, as we 
have contemplated, be made with equal profit to the southern cap- 
italist? Can there be found a sufficient number of freemen, to 
replace the slaves, so that there shall be no diminution of products 
to serve as a fresh stimulus to slavery and the slave trade elsewhere ? 
Will southern men, in such circumstances, be willing to emancipate, 
Dn condition of receiving compensation? Could the States and the 

» National Era, May 16, 1850. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 69 

General Governmeni provide for the expenses of the emigration of all 
the colored people ? 

These are the great questions of the day in reference to the whole 
subject of emancipation. We shall not undertake, formally, to ans- 
wer them. Colonies of foreigners, recently settled in Texas, have 
commenced the cultivation of cotton without the aid of slaves. The 
agent of the "Free Produce Society," Levi Coffin, of Cincinnati, 
assures us that these colonists, together with many other persons 
thus engaged in cotton raising at the South, find it a profitable busi- 
ness, and that they can fully compete with their neighbors who em- 
ploy slave labor. From personal observation, we are prepared to 
say, that the value of the proceeds of small farms, on which but 
few laborers are employed, is twice as great in the North as in the 
South. We have less acquaintance with the operations of the large 
planters at the South, but suppose that the contractors on our public 
works at the North, who employ an equal number of hands, and 
possess equal business talents, after paying full wages, realize the 
greatest profits. We mean to be understood as claiming, that free 
labor, under the most favoring circumstances, is twice as productive 
as slave labor ; and that the southern planters, in substituting an intel- 
ligent white laboring population, and paying full wages, would realize 
a better profit than they do under tlieir present system. With a few 
years' experience, the foreigner is as profitable a laborer as the native 
American. Tiie present annual influx of near a half a inillion of 
foreigners, into the country, would furnish many laborers to the 
South, were the objections to settling there removed. The adoption, 
by the General Government, of a system of emancipation, alloiving 
compensation for the slaves, and connecting with it their coloniza- 
tion in Liberia, would at once attract foreigners to the southern 
States, to an extent fully equal to the number of colored people that 
could annually be safely settled in Africa. The number of emi- 
grants that can be provided for in Liberia, will be an hundred per 
cent, greater, in proportion to its population, than can be received in 
countries where protection has to be made against winter. In a few 
years that Republic can be prepared to receive an immense emigra- 
tion. The opening of the South to free labor, would give a vast 
stimulus to the spirit of emigration in European countries, and bring 
a flood of useful emigrants from their teeming populations ; including 
mechanics, manufacturers, and agricvdtural laborers, which might 
equal, as soon as desirable, the whole number of our slaves, and 
constitute a body of operatives much more profitable. Europe, at 
present, is annually pouring out more than a half a million of her 
people, without feeling any sensible diminution ; nay, without losing 
a tithe of her increase. The greater part of that emigration is to the 
United States ; and as there is not such an attractive field furnished 
in the world, to foreign emigrants, as our southern States afford, were 
a system adopted for the emigration of the African population, we 
would receive a gready increased number of Europeans. How long 
It would take for three millions of foreign emigrants to find their way 



70 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

nto the South, to take the place of the three millions of slaves, we 
cannot say ; but there exists little doubt that their ingress would be 
as rapid as the colored people could possibly leave for Liberia. 

It is thus that free labor might be substituted for slave labor, and 
the slaveholder be rendered more prosperous and happy. The res- 
toration to the planter, by the General Government, of his capital 
invested in slaves, and the introduction of a system of free labor 
which would require a mucli less ouday of money than the present 
system, would, doubtless, be approved at the South, and a proposition 
of this kind be accepted by acclamation. 

Gentlemen of the Constitutional Convention: 

In closing, we must call your attention to the question of making 
provision for the emigration of the colored people of Ohio, or for 
such of them as may, from time to time, desire to remove to Liberia. 
The late purchase of territory for a new colony, by Charles 
McMiCKEN, Esq., to be called Ohio in Africa, is attracting the atten- 
tion of the colored people, and considerable anxiety prevails to obtain 
reliable information about Liberia, and especially in relation to the 
lands now offered to them as their future homes. The general feel- 
ing among those who take an interest in this movement, is, that a 
committee of their own choosing, which should be approved by the 
agent of the Colonization Society, shall be sent to explore the country. 
This seems a reasonable request, and should be complied with. 
The Colonization Society have in their offer a larger number of 
slaves than they can colonize, and we cannot ask that its funds shall be 
diverted from so sacred an object as securing their freedom. The as- 
sistance for our colored people must come from the State itself. But 
the voluntary contributions of individuals are insufficient for this 
purpose, and too precarious to be relied upon. Public sympathy, 
throughout the Union, cannot be aroused in behalf of the free col- 
ored people, as it can for the slave, so as to make their removal a 
national question. And yet their agency, as pioneers to aid the 
Liberians in making provision for new emigrants, is essential to the 
success of any great national emancipation scheme. The cost of 
emigration of the free colored people must, then, be borne by the 
States in which they reside. This view has already been adopted 
by some of the States. Maryland has established a colony at Cape 
Palmas, upon which she has expended a large sum. Its prosperity 
amply repays her liberality. Virginia, last winter, also made a large 
appropriation, ($30,000 a year,) to colonize her free colored people. 
But in addition to this, she has levied a poll tax upon them, which 
will, doubdess, lessen the task she has undertaken, by driving over 
upon the adjoining free States, all those who do not wish to emigrate. 
Ohio has done nothing yet for colonization. Her recent legislation 
has all been directed so as to invite the largest emigration of colored 
people from abroad.* 

* See first Lecture, pages 19 to 26. 



Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 71 

Taking all the circumstances connected with the subject into view, 
it is evident that the means of promoting the cause of Colonization 
in Ohio, must be obtained within the State, and that an application to 
the Legislature for aid will be necessary. It is all important, then, 
that the question of legislative power to appropriate money for this 
object, be put beyond all dispute. To bring the question of affording 
aid to Colonization directly before the people, for their approval, it is 
respectfully requested on behalf of the friends of that cause, and on 
behalf of the colored people who wish to emigrate, that you, genUe- 
men, in the discharge of your duties, as members of the Constitu- 
tional Convention, will insert a clause in the new Constitution, 
empowering the Legislature to grant an appropriation of money to 
the American Colonization Society, under such restrictions as will 
best promote the noble enterprise in which it is engaged, and encour- 
age the emigi-ation of the colored people from this State to Liberia. 

There is certainly much, at this moment, gentlemen, to excite en- 
couraging hopes for the colored race, and to stimulate their friends to 
forget all minor differences, and press onward to the accomplishment 
of the grand results new evidendy attainable through Colonization. 
Nor are we left without hope, that our own beloved country may yet 
be freed from the reproach of African slavery, which has been en- 
tailed upon her by the cupidity of the mother country. Take a view, 
for a moment, of the signs of the times, and the present position of 
affairs. The despotisms of Europe are being shaken to their centers. 
The crowned heads seem to have gained a momentary respite. The 
want of safety in property and life in the old world is greatly stimu- 
lating emigration to the new. Here, only, can white men enjoy all 
the rights of freemen, and be brought under the influence of all the 
elements of useful human progress.* The recent vast enlargement 
of our territory, may have been permitted to afford room for the op- 
pressed millions of Europe, who are sighing for peace and for freedom. 
Our national councils have been directed to a peaceful adjustment of 
the questions threatening tlie safety of tlie Union. The opening up 
of the untold riches of California is placing in the possession of the 
nation the means of accomplishing great things for the world. This 
most singular combination of events, points very significandy to the 
great work devolving upon the nation. To substitute free labor for 
slave labor is in our power. To give compensation to the master 
for his slaves ivill not be beyond our ability. The foreign emigrants 
pouring into the country will perform the first great work. The 
immense revenues that will hereafter flow into our national treasury 
will enable us to execute the last. Is it doubted ? The appropriation 
of an annual sum only equal to half the amount expended in the 
Mexican War, would, in seventeen years, colonize all the slaves, and 
pay to the masters $300 each, for young and old, as compensation. 
To substitute free labor for slave labor need produce no commercial 
derangement with us that would encourage the slave trade or slavery 

* See Lecture Second, page 49. 



72 Present Relations of Free Labor to Slave Labor. 

elsewhere. There need be no diminution of products, but the im- 
proved tillage would yield an increase. England and France, when 
freeing the slaves in their Colonies, found no such tide of intelligeni 
foreigners as we are receiving, flowing into them, to take the place of 
their slaves, and prevent a decrease of agricultural products. We 
can do wliat no other nation would be capable of doing. It is in our 
power not only to free ourselves from the evil of slavery, and the 
whole world from the necessity of consuming slave-grown products ; 
but, in the execution of this great work, to hasten the redemption of 
Africa from barbarism ; and, in doing this, to crush the slave trade 
and slavery everywhere, and establish our own glorious republic upon 
a foundation as enduring as the everlasting hills. No one, we think, 
can calmly examine the present relations of free labor to slave labor, 
in tropical and semi-tropical countries, as embodied in the mass of 
facts we have collated, and not be convinced that Emancipation in the 
United States, and the Colonization of the colored people in Liberia, 
to develop its resources and civilize its inhabitants, would give a 
death-blow to the slavery of Cuba and Brazil, and to African oppression 
throughout the world. And who would not be delighted to aid in 
such a glorious work ? Who would not be overjoyed to witness 
such a sublime achievement of Republican principle 1 Who would 
not devoutly adore that Divine Wisdom which had wrought out such 
deliverance for Africa. 

And now, gentlemen, we commit this subject into your hands. 
The first step, in the agency which Ohio should have in this great 
work, must be taken by you. Our lands for the Colony of Ohio in 
Africa, are included in the Gallinas, hitherto the greatest mart of the 
slave trade on that coast. To secure its purchase. Great Britain, with 
profiase liberality, for more than a year, blockaded all its principal 
trading points and thus kept off the slave traders until the chiefs and 
kings were induced to sell. That blockade is now raised — the pur- 
chase having been made. The country is once more exposed to the 
approaches of the slave traders, who may again succeed in renewing 
the traffic. This can only be prevented by the settlement of the 
points liable to be visited by them. This territory being in the offer 
of the colored people of Ohio, will for a time, not be offered to others. 
It is important, therefore, that decisive steps be taken to secure the 
execution of the enterprise of establishing an Ohio Colony in Africa. 
The failure of an application to the Legislature, last winter, for aid 
to begin this work, was, in some degree, owing to an opinion held 
by a few of the members, that they had not constitutional power to 
appropriate money for this object. Our appeal, then, must first be to 
you. The failure to confer upon the Legislature the power for which 
we ask, will leave us in doubt and perplexity, and cast a blight upon 
our prospects. But the insertion of a clause in the Constitution, such 
as is desired, will ensure Legislative action, and may lead the St-ate 
to adopt and cherish this offspring of benevolence — Ohio in Africa 
— and thus create a new and efficient agent for the overthrow of 
oppression and the promotion of human liberty. We commend it to 
your care, and to the blessing of the Ruler of Nations. 



fu\5 far Cliinking Mm: 

SHOWING THE NECESSITY OF 

AFRICAN COLONIZATION 



TO SECURE THE SUCCESS OF 

TROPICAL FREE LABOR. 



By DAVID CHRISTY, 

AGENT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION BOCIETT FOR OHIO. 



It is a dictate of prudence, in all human pui'suits, to pause, at times, 
and review the past, that we may ascertain whether our efforts have 
been successful, or whether a change of policy may not be demanded to 
accomplish our pvirposes. The more important the interests involved, 
the greater is the necessity for the adoption of this rule. Let us apply 
it to the efforts which have been made in behalf of the oppressed people 
of Africa. Except the propagation of the Gospel, few benevolent enter- 
prises have enlisted so many hearts as those for the destruction of the 
African slave trade and the abolition of slavery ; and, in none have the 
active agents been so often foiled, and doomed to see their brightest 
hopes decay and almost die, as in these twin offsprings of benevolence. 

An impression has gone abroad, of late, among a certain class, that 
much progress has been made in overturning the system of slavery ; and, 
that, in a little time, the task will be done, and the oppressed go free. 
It is proposed, in the space of a few pages, to notice the more prominent 
events connected with the subject, with the view of showing that this 
belief is not warranted by the. facts in the case ; and that the Anti- 
Slavery policy, so far as it has opposed Colonization to Africa, has re- 
tarded emancipation, by checking the extension of free labor tropical 
cultivation, and thus rendered slave lalior more and more necessary, 
and more and more profitable, in the cultivation of those tropical products 
which the constantly increasing wants of commerce now so imperiously 
demand. 

In performing this task, we shall direct attention to the enormous in- 
debtedness of the Christian world to slave labor, at this moment, for 
certain articles of prime necessity ; then show the inability of free labor, 
in tropical and semi-tropical countries, to compete with the slave labor 
of those regions so as to afford any relief; present facts to prove, that 
the tendency of the efforts of Great Britain, in behalf of the African 
race, up to a recent date, has been to increase the evils she was attempt- 
ing to destroy ; offer some considerations which make it probable, that 
the suppression of the African slave trade, an event now considered cer- 



2 Facts for Thinking Men. 

tain, will be of immense pecuniaiy benefit to the slave holders of the 
United States; and, in concluding, demonstrate that the only hope for 
any great increase of free labor tropical cultivation, at an early day, is 
in Africa, and that the main prospect of making it available there, is by 
colonization to Liberia. 

As the field of investigation is an extensive one, we must study great 
brevity ; and, to render our labors less complicated, we shall refer to 
three articles of slave labor product, only, viz.: Coffee, Sugar, and 
Cotton. Fkst, then, as to the indebtedness of the Christian world to 
slave labor. 

According to official documents, and other reliable sources of informa- 
tion, the consumption of Cotton in Europe and the United States for 
1849,* was 1,179,920,000 lbs. Of this amount, only 78,589,200 
lbs. were the product of free labor countries, leaving the Christian world 
indebted to slave labor, for this article of prime necessity, to the extent 
of 1,101,330,800 lbs. 

Of this amount England consumed 624,000,000 lbs., of which only 
71,469,200 lbs. were from free labor countries, leaving her indebted to 
slave labor countries for 552,530,800 lbs. of Cotton. The amount of 
this article consumed by Great Britain, being more than one half of the 
whole consumption of the Cbristian world, shows that she is the gi-eatest 
prop to slavery in the world. Her patronage to the slave holders of the 
United States, alone, for 1849, was, for Cotton, 734,244,560 lbs., of 
which she manufactured 522,530,800 lbs. and exported the remainder 
to the Continent. 

But why is this ? we may be asked. Why is it that England, after 
making such immense sacrifices for the overthrow of slavery in her own 
dominions, should be the principal purchaser of the products of the 
slave labor of a rival nation? We answer, that her greatness and 
power, the ability to meet the payment of the interest upon her na- 
tional debt and to sustain the throne itself, is dependent upon her com- 
merce ; and that her commerce is based upon her exports of manufac- 
tures. These exports stood as follows, for the year 1849, and that 
year will serve as the index to other years : 

Silks Exported, $5,001,785 

Woolen Goods, Exported, 42,096,650 

Linen " " 20,517,215 $67,615,650 

Cotton " " S139,453,970 

It will be seen, therefore, that Cotton is indispensable to Great Britain, 
and that to cut off her supply of that article, would be to destroy nearly 
two thuds of her commerce, manufactures of Iron excepted. 

The United States is also dependent upon Cotton, to a large extent, 
as the basis of her foreign commerce, not only as it respects the raw 
material, but in the manufactured ai'ticle. 

♦This Tract is a condensed enumeration of the facts embraced in the pamphlet addressed to 
the Ohio Constitutional Convention, in 1850, on " the present relations of free labor to slave 
labor," and their hearing on African Colonization. The authorities, for the facts stated, are all 
given in that document, and are to be relied upon as correct, both there and here. The suppres- 
sion of the slave trade, then in anticipation, has now been nearly realized, and the arguments 
based upon this event will be found worth considering. 



X Facts for Thinking Men. 3 

To understand the full indebtedness of the Christian world to slave 
labor and to free labor, respectively, at this moment, the following figures 
must be given : 

CONSUMPTION OF COTTON, SUGAR, AND COFFEE, IN 1849. 

Slave Labor. Free Labor. Slave Labor Excess. 

Cotton, lbs. 1,101,3.30,800 78,589,200 1,022,741,000 

Sugar, " 1,220,000,000 933,024,000 286,975,000 

Coffee, " 338,240,000 217,800,000 120,440,000 

These figures show the relation in which the Christian world stood, to 
these two systems of labor, in 1849, and that relation has not since 
undergone any material change. Nor is there any practicable mode of 
immediately altering this relation, now apparent to the eye of the 
Christian philanthropist. Much dependence has hitherto been placed 
on the application of moral suasion, for the removal of slavery from 'Our 
country. But the demands of commerce now far outweigh the moral 
forces operating against that institution, and it must continue, as far 
as man can judge, until a change in the sources of supply, of the com- 
modities upon which slave labor is employed, can be accomplished. 

But there is no prospect of such a change being effected in the 
countries now producing these commodities. Their production by slave 
labor has been rapidly increasing for many years, while that by free 
labor has been as regularly decreasing, so that no material change is to 
be expected very soon. The truth of this assertion will be evident when 
it is stated, that the forces employed within the western hemisphere, in 
the cultivation of Coffee, Sugar, and Cotton, for export, stand about 
thus : * 

Slave population 6,657,000 

Free colored population 1,657,000 

The latter class, standing only as one to six, cannot, by any possibil- 
ity, compete with the former, and no revolution in the supplies of the 
commodities named, is to be expected from that quarter. 

In confirmation of this view, it is only necessary to say, that while 
the slave trade supplied the English West India jjlanters and those of 
Hayti with laborers, the exports in a single year, of the articles under 
consideration, from these Islands — the latter in 1790 and the former in 
1807 — amounted to 928,000,000 lbs. ; while under freedom, from 1838 
to 1848, their exports averaged, annually, only 350,000,000 lbs., — 
being a decrease of 572,000,000 lbs. As there was, during the periods 
named, no diminution in the consumption of these articles, but a steady 
increase, this falling off in the amount of free labor products operated 
as a great stimulus to the slave holder, and also to the slave trader. Is 
this doubted ? Then look at a few facts connected with this subject. 

"When England prohibited the slave trade to her citizens, and thus cut 
off the supply of laborers to her West India planters, in 1808, the ex- 

* This does not include the free colored people of the United States, nor the one million of slaves 
in this country, who reside north of the Cotton and Sugar line. The whole number of African 
Slaves in the AVestern Hemisphere is about 7,600,000. 



4 Facts for Thinking Men. 

ports of slaves from Africa, were but 85,000 annually ; but, instead of 
being diniinished by that act, that bloody traffic went on increasing^ 
until, in 1830, it had reached an average of 125,000 annually. In 
1833, the Emancipation Act was passed by Parliament, and it was fol- 
lowed by a still farther increase of the slave trade, running up the ex- 
ports of slaves from Africa, between 1835 and 1840, to 135,800 per 
annum. 

But why this result? Cuba, Brazil, and the French West India 
Colonies, continued to purchase imported slaves, that they might extend 
their cultivation, and reap all the advantages of the decreased produc- 
tion, under free labor, in Hayti, and the British West India possessions 
To give a clear idea of the rapidity with which the demand for these 
products has increased, one instance only need be given, which will 
serve as an index to the whole. In 1805, the English consumption of 
Cotton was but 60,000,000 lbs. In 1833 it was 287,000,000 lbs., 
and in 1845 it had risen to 026,000,000 lbs. But in 1849 it was 
reduced to 624,000,000 lbs. To this foct we shall recur again, at 
present merely stating, that as the cultivation of Coffee, Sugar, and 
Cotton, went down in Hayti and the British West Indies, it went up in 
the countries employing slave labor. 

Being in the possession of such facts as these, a just conception can be 
formed of the present indebtedness of the Christian world to slave labor, 
and the character of the obstacles in the way of effecting any immediate 
change in that relation. In the article of Cotton, alone, the excess of 
the consumption of the products of slave labor over free labor, is more 
than one thousand millions ofj)Ounds ; and, in all three of the products 
named, it is o\qv fourteen hundred and thirty millions ofpo7inds. 

Attention must now be directed to another aspect of this subject, and 
one that is indispensable to the proper understanding of the present 
posture of slave labor. 

It had become apparent, at the close of 1849, that slave labor, and 
free labor, both combined, were about to fail in producing an adequate 
supply of Cotton and Coffee, to meet the demand for these commodities; 
and, a.s a necessary consequence, the prices of both advanced, largely, 
beyond what they had been for years. It was also known, that ex- 
cept so far as more favoral)le seasons might afford larger crops, occa- 
sionally, no increased ratio of production was to be expected in the 
countries engaged in the cultivation of these articles ; and that their 
consumption had been increasing in a greater ratio than their production, 
so that a short supply must become permanent, unless additional laborers, 
in other countries, not now producing them, could be induced to engage 
in their cultivation. 

There was one mode, indeed, by which an increased production of 
these commodities might have been secured, in the present producing 
countries ; and that was by an unlimited and untrammeled increase of 
the slave trade, adding, annually, two or three hundred thousand slaves 
to the plantations of Brazil, Cuba, and other slave labor countries. 
And such was the pressing necessity for an increased supply of Cotton 
in England, in 1850, that this coui-se of policy was very nearly adopted. 
The philanthropists, despairing, at that moment, of the suppression of 
the slave trade, and anxious to relieve it of the horrors induced by the 



Facts for Thml'infj Men. 5 

fear of capture on the part of the traders ; and, moreover, being mostly 
" peace men," and opposed to the shedding of blood ; had commenced 
to urge the withdrawal of the naval squadrons from the African coast, 
so as to leave the traffic in slaves once more unmolested, that it might 
be prosecuted with care and deliberation and less loss of human life. 
During 1850 and each of the four preceding years, Brazil received from 
Africa, from 50,000 to 60,000 slaves for the supply of her planters, 
notwithstanding the efforts of the squadrons to prevent it. But, as the 
mortality of her slaves is ten per cent, per annum, she needed 200,000 
at least, to keep pace with the demands which commerce was making 
upon her for slave growTi products. The English Cotton lords, foresee- 
ing, doubtless, that the movement would at once double tlie supply of 
laborers to Brazil, and increase her ability to export Cotton, readily 
united with the philantb-opists, and, in the name of humanity, demanded 
that tlie government should withdraw its African squadron. The adop- 
tion of this measure by Parliament, would have given to the slave 
ti-ader an uninterrupted field for renewing his horrid traffic in human 
flesh. But Lord John Russell brought the whole weight of his influence 
against it, as Premier, and refused any longer to have the action of 
government controlled by men who had proved themselves, throughout 
the anti-slavery movement, as ignorant of the principles of political 
economy, as they were erroneous in their notions of human nature. 

To afford a true idea of the embarrassments under which the English 
manufacturers labor, in reference to a supply of Cotton to keep their 
looms in motion, it is only necessary to state : that from 1830 to 1845, 
omitting 1837 and 1841, the increase in the consumption of Cotton in 
England, averaged, annually, nearly 35,000,000 lbs. The whole con- 
Bumption, in 1830, was 247,600,000 lbs. and in 1845 it had risen as 
before stated, to 626,496,000 lbs. But in 1845 her consumption of 
Cotton had reached its maximum, and she has not since manufactured 
so large a quantity, in any one year, by two or three millions of pounds. 
The reason of this is fully explained in the London Economist and other 
British periodicals. Her supplies of Cotton from all other countries, 
except the United States, had been diminishing for many years, save 
when excessively high prices diverted a larger portion from India to 
England. The ratio of increase in the production of Cotton, in the 
United States, has been only about three per cent, per annum, or nearly 
equal to the natural increase of her slave population. Beyond this ratio 
of increase, the production of Cotton in the United States cannot extend, 
excepting so far as new and richer lands are obtained and cultivated ; 
and, even then, an increase from this cause cannot be permanent, as 
much of the Cotton lands of the South have been worn out and aban- 
doned, and much more must share the same fate. The ratio of increase 
in the production of Cotton, in the United States, cannot, therefore, rise 
permanently much beyond three per cent, per aiuium. 

Now, we wish it noted, particularly, that the ratio of increase in the 
manufacture of Cotton, in the United States and the continent of Eu- 
rope, equals this three per cent, per annum, and takes up the whole 
increased production of the United States. Owing to the disturbances 
in Europe, of a political nature, the manufactuiing interests on the con- 



6 Facts for Thinking Men. 

tinent have been somewhat deranged, but at the opening of 1850, the 
condition of this question was as we have stated. 

England, then, has been left without the means of procuring a suffi- 
cient supply of Cotton for her manufactories ; and has been driven to 
extraordinary efforts, for some years past, to remedy this evil. These 
efforts need not be noticed in detail : they were begun in India, extended 
to Australia, to South Africa, and last of all to Liberia. The results of 
these attempts have been rather discouraging, generally, and, in some 
instances, total failures, except in Liberia ; where the soil, climate, and 
population, s&m\ hopes of complete success, when the new Republic 
shall have suiScient capital to employ the native labor within its borders. 

And here we may be allowed to remark, that it does not appear to 
be so much from a dislike to the use of the slave grown Cotton of Brazil 
and the United States, that England is seeking supplies from other 
countries, as because she cannot obtain enough of it to meet her wants. 
After using 552,500,000 lbs. of slave grown cotton annually, and but 
71,4:09,000 lbs. of free labor origin, it need not be claimed that the 
Cotton lords of England have any scruples of conscience on that score. 

But we must advert to another aspect of this great question. 

When a skillful general has to contend with a powerful foe, he never 
rushes recklessly on to the contest, relying for victory upon mere bravery ; 
but surveys the enemy's movements and position with care, aims at 
discovering his plans, and then attacks the posts of most vital importance 
to his adversary. It cannot, justly, be claimed that the English anti- 
slavery efforts have been conducted upon this principle ; but it can be 
shown that the slave trader, and those interested in sustaining his unholy 
traffic, have acted upon it, and, until very recently, have gained strength 
and superior advantages from every movement made for the suppression 
of that traffic. 

It can also be shown that the signal failure of West India free labor, 
so unexpected to the emancipationists, and so destructive to the West 
India planters, was, in a good degree, the legitimate result of the slave 
trade. Look at the facts. The constant and cheap supply of slaves to 
the planters of Cuba, enabled them to produce Sugar at £12 the ton; 
while in the English West Indies, under freedom, the planters have been 
unable to produce it for less than £20 the ton, though paying the free 
laborer but 18^ to 25 cents per day, as wages, the workman boarding 
himself. Such wages being insufficient to allure the freeman to the toils 
of the sugar mills, or to induce him to allow his wife or daughters to go 
there, except from necessity, the planters, unable to pay more, at the 
prices their Sugar bore in mai'ket, could not compete with the Cuban 
slave holders, and had to abandon their estates. It was thus that the 
slave trade crippled English West India cultivation, and rendered it 
wholly powerless as a competitor to slave labor ; and it was thus, again, 
that slavery was made to react bo as to sustain the slave trade. 

The same remarks will apply to the cultivation of Coffee, and the same 
results, nearly, have followed, in aU cases, where either manumitted 
free labor, or Pagan free labor have come into competition with African 
slave labor, in the production of the commodities which we have been 
considering. Here are the f;icts: 

Brazil and the Spanish West Indies, excluding Cuba, exported, in 



Facts for Thinking Men. 7 

1832, only 94,080,000 lbs. of Coffee; but after the English emancipa- 
tion of 1833, the enormous importation of slaves into the fonuer coun- 
tries, enabled them to run up their production so as to export, in 1848, 
the immense quantity of 313,600,000 lbs. of this article. See the enor- 
mous power of the slave trade ! In 16 years it enabled these countries 
to increase their coffee exports from 94,080,000 lbs. to 313,600,000 lbs.! 

On the other hand, Hayti, the British West Indies, Ceylon, Mocha, 
and India, all free labor countries, exported less in 1848, by 6,000,000 
Jbs., than they had done in 1832. 

Java and Sumatra, also free labor countries, though increasing their 
exports of Coffee from 60,480,000 lbs., in 1832, to 156,800,000 lbs. 
in 1843; yet, owing to the extreme low prices, in the following years, 
arising fi"om the heax'y supplies fi'om Brazil, they allowed their exports 
to fall off, in 1848, 12,400,000 lbs. below what it was in 1843. 

Cuba, employing slave labor, diminished her coffee exports, it is true, 
from 49,280,000 lbs., in 1832, to 22,400,000 lbs. in 1848; but it was 
only to increase her sugar exports from about 100,000,000 lbs. to near 
600,000,000 lbs. per annum, and to give the death blow to its produc- 
tion, by free labor, in the British West Indies. 

Here, now, without further details, are facts enough to enable think- 
ing men to discern how far the failure of free labor tropical cultivation 
is due to the slave trade ; and to convince them that not only in Sugar 
and Coffee, throughout the whole field of theu- production, but in Cotton, 
too, has manumitted free labor, as well as pagan free labor, failed to 
sustain itself in competition with African slave labor; and that the slave 
trade has embarrassed, discouraged, and almost ruined free labor tropi- 
cal cultivation. 

But let us look a little more closely at the position into which this 
tremendous agent of evil, the slave trade, has thrown the Christian world. 
By introducing a savage population into new and rising Christian States, 
where labor was much in demand, it has checked the progress of civiliza- 
tion, and entailed evils that the wisdom of man is unable to remove. 
By multiplying at will the number of slaves in the world, it has cast a 
blight upon free labor within the tropics. By rapidly augmenting the 
supplies of slave labor products, at cheap rates, it has driven those of 
free labor from the markets, except at ruinous prices, and thus has it 
successfully paralyzed the arm of the freeman. By securing to slave 
labor the monopoly of the markets for its products, it has compelled the 
Christian world to become the prop of that system, by making it necessary 
that she should consume its fruits. By this decrease of free lal^or pro- 
ducts, it has placed slavery, apparently, upon an immovable basis, 
enabling it to bid defiance to its enemies, and to force England, the 
most deeply interested of all nations in its destruction, to become its 
principal supporter. Thus, the day of freedom for the slave, it would 
seem, is prolonged, and the hope of the pliilanthropist almost ready to 
expire. Here, now, is the position in which this momentous question 
stood at the opening of 1851. 

But before the close of that year, we heard the cheering declaration, 
by the British Prime 3Iinister, that the slave trade was virtually at an 
end. Tu-ed of diplomacy with Brazil, and wearied with repeated viola- 
tions of treaties, on the part of that government, the English squadron 



8 Facts for Thinking Men. 

was sent to her coast, and, by firing into the slave trading vessels in her 
ports, brought her to terms. Brazil at once agi-eed to prohilnt the traffic 
in slaves to her citizens, and it is confidently believed that she will now 
act in good faith, inasmuch as she will be closely watched by England. 

That' the boast of the British Premier was no idle one, is proved by 
the parliamentary reports of the present year, on the Brazilian slave 
trade ; which show that only about 3,000 slaves had been smuggled into 
Brazil during the past year, while the number introduced dui'ing the five 
preceding years, had been from 50,000 to 00,000. 

The Queen of England, in her speech of the 15th August, 1852, at 
the prorogation of ParHament, says: "Treaties have been concluded by 
my naval commanders, with the king of Dahomey and all the African 
chiefs whose rule extends along the Bight of Benin, for the total abolition 
of the slave trade, which at present is wholly suppressed upon that post." 

The recent purchase of the territory between Liberia and Sierra 
Leone, by President Roberts, upon which our Ohio colony is to be 
planted, has placed the whole of that part of the coast under the juris- 
diction of the Liberian authorities, and forever rendered the slave trade 
illegal throughout its former strong holds in the GalUnas and Grand 
Cape Mount. 

We may, therefore, say, remarks the editor of a leading Boston paper, 
that there is not now, on the whole coast of Africa, a single open, legal- 
ized slave mart for the foreign trade. Slaves may, and no doubt will 
be smuggled from Africa, as long as Cuba encourages the traffic ; but 
there is no longer any place on that continent, where slaves can be 
openly collected and kept for the foreign market and sold to foreign 
traders, under cover of African laws. 

This, then, is a new and most important fact, to be added to those 
which we have noticed in our rapid review of the present condition of 
free labor and slave labor, and it must produce great revolutions in the 
questions we have been considering. Let us, therefore, proceed to take 
a cahn and dispassionate review of the history of past events and results, 
so as to form a sound judgment of what will be the practical effects of 
the suppression of the slave trade, upon the interests of free labor and 
slave labor respectively. As the prosecution of that traffic, by supply- 
ing an abundance of laliorers, at cheap rates, has paralyzed free labor 
tropical cultivation, everywhere, and secured to slave labor the principal 
monopoly of the markets of the world for its products, let us see what 
results may be anticipated from the suppression of the slave trade and 
the consequent suspension of the supplies of slaves from Africa to the 
planters of Cuba and Brazil. 

As lilfe causes produce like eflfects, under similar circumstances, we 
must see if a like event with the present suppression of the slave trade, 
has before occurred, and then ascertain the results that followed. A 
case precisely parallel, is afforded in the history of the prohibition of the 
slave trade, to the British West India planters, by the English Pariia- 
ment. 

These planters, up to 1806, had received from the slave traders an 
uninterrupted supply of laborers, and had rapidly extended their culti- 
vation as connnerce increased its demands for their products. Let us 
take the results in Jamaica as an example of the whole of the British 



Facts for Thinking Men. 9 

West India Islands. Sho had increased her exports of sugar from a 
yearly average of 123,979,000 lbs. in 1772-3, to 234,700,000 lbs. in 
1805-(3. No diminution of exports had occurred, as has been asserted 
by some anti-slavery writers, before the prohibition of the slave trade. 
The increase was progressive and undisturbed, except so far as affected 
by seasons more or less favorable. But no sooner was lier supply of 
slaves cut off, by the Act of 1S0(), which took effect in ISOS, tlian the 
exports of Jamaica began to diminish, until her sugar had fallen off from 
1822 to 1832, to an annual average of 131,129,000 lbs., or nearly to 
what they had been sixty years before. It was not until 1833 that the 
Emancipation Act was passed; so that this decline in the exports of 
Jamaica, took place under all the rigors of West India slavery. 

The cause of this decline in the exports of the British West India 
colonies, is easily explained. The planters preferred males as laborers, 
and the slave traders imported males, principally, from Africa, to sell to 
them. As soon, therefore, as the supplies were withheld, the slave 
population began to diminish, by the usual mortality among the adults; 
so that, at the end of about twenty-three years, according to Buxton, 
instead of any increa,se, they had decreased from 800,000 to 700,000. 
The result of this movement was, that the exports from the whole Brit- 
ish West Indies, were reduced one-third below what they had been before 
the prohibition of the slave trade. 

Now, let us inquire a moment into the condition of Cuba and Brazil, 
which have been as fully dependent upon the slave trade for their supply 
of laborers, as the British West Indies were before 1808. 

A census of Cuba, a few yeai's since, showed that out of a slave pop- 
ulation of 425,000 there were but 150,000 females. The slave popula- 
tion of Brazil is believed to be composed of about the same disproportion 
in the sexes as that of Cuba. The rate of mortality among adult slaves, 
imported from Africa, is very great, being in Brazil, as before stated, 
near ten per cent, per annum, and requiring a renewal of that class of 
slaves, on the plantations, once in ten years. 

It is very easy, with these lights before us, to foresee what must be 
the effect of the suppression of the slave trade on Cuba and Brazil. 
The supply of slaves being cut off, the deaths must, in a few years, 
equalize the sexes, and result in a great decrease of the slave population. 
This must produce a corresponding diminution in their exports, for many 
years, extending, annually, to at least one-third their former amount. 
This decrease in the supply of slave labor products, will create a corres- 
ponding increase of then- prices in the markets. But this enhancement 
of their value will not compensate the Cuban and Brazilian slave hold- 
ers for their diminished production and the losses in the number of their 
slaves. The suppression of the slave trade, then, will be a serious pecu- 
niary loss to the slaveholders of these two countries. 

But who are to be benefited by this revolution in slave labor coun- 
tries, hitherto dependent upon the slave trade? Undoubtedly, the 
benefits will be enjoyed by free labor, wherever it is employed in the 
cultivation of similar products; and by slave labor in countries not 
depending upon the African slave trade. This stimulus to industry, 
then, will reach Hayti, the British West Indies, and Liberia, to prompt 
their freemen to greater industry, by the prospect of better compensation 



10 Facts for Thinking Men. 

for their labor. As the supplies of slave-grown products diminish, and 
the prices increase, free labor products must be multiplied, and free labor 
itself, in some degree, be released from its embarrassments. 

But this stimulus of higher prices will reach the United States in a 
much greater degree, because our slaveholders are prepared, at once, to 
avail themselves of these advantages, and it will add to the stability of 
slavery, by increasing the price of its products, and enhancing the value 
of the slaves. Already the short supply of Cotton, before noticed, has 
vastly increased the value of both Cotton and slaves, and the suppression 
of the slave trade, at this juncture, must greatly add to the advantages 
of the slaveholder of the United States. 

After all the efforts, therefore, that have been made for the destruc- 
tion of slavery, during a half century of unwearied exertion, the progress 
of events has so complicated this great problem, that at the very moment 
when the slave trade is supposed to be extinguished, or nearly so, and 
tropical free labor left unshackled, the Christian world is more deeply 
indebted to slave labor than at any former period, and the slavery of the 
United States rendered more permanent and profitable, to all human 
appearance, than at any time since its origin. 

If any one doubts the justness of this conclusion, as a fair deduction 
from the facts which have l>een presented, we most sincerely and earnestly 
in\'ite him to show us our error, as our only aim is the discovery of 
truth, in the light of which alone, can we hope to discover the path of 
duty, in relation to the great questions connected with the redemption 
of the African race. 

The investigations now completed, have conducted us to a most inter- 
esting conclusion, and brought out results wholly different, no doubt, 
from what most of our readers have been anticipating. They are, how- 
ever, legitimate deductions from the facts connected with the subject, 
and show, most conclusively, that the question of slavery, in our country, 
is placed upon new grounds. 

It shows, also, that those who have had the control of the anti-slavery 
movements, have manifested little foresight in their policy, as nearly 
every measure adopted to check or suppress the evils of slavery and the 
slave trade, have been followed by results the reverse of what they 
expected, and were laboring to secure. But we have no disposition to 
find fault, our only aim being to point to the bearing that the new order 
of things must have upon African Colonization and the prosperity of the 
Republic of Liberia. 

While our researches have revealed the immense extent to which the 
Christian world is now consuming slave-grown products, at the same time 
the utmost capacity of slave labor, to meet the demands of commerce, 
has also been discovered. This is something gained. In the United 
States, the ratio of increase in the annual production of Cotton, keeps 
even pace with the natural increase of the slaves, and nothing more. 
Our sugar growers cannot go beyond this, except as they draw off the 
laborers from the cotton fields. Thus stands the slave labor of the 
United States. 

The slave population of Cuba and Brazil, should the slave trade be 
effectually suppressed, will soon be placed upon the same basis as that 
of the United States. The planters there, will have no increase of 



Facts for Thinking Men. 11 

laborers, excepting from the natural increase of the slaves. The reduc- 
tion of the slave population, by the death of the excess of males, judging 
from the results in the EngHsh colonies, after 1808, will not be made up 
by the natural increase, in less than thirty years. Until that occurs, 
Cuba and Brazil will be unable to keep their exports up to the present 
amount. The exports of the English colonies, upon the prohibition of 
the slave trade, fell off one-third, and a like result may now be expected 
in Brazil and Cuba. 

Under these cu-cumstances, the utmost capacity of slave labor, in 
tropical and semi-ti'opical cultivation, can be accurately estimated, and 
the extent of its supplies to commerce be clearly foreseen. This will 
enable the friends of free labor to measure the strength and resources of 
the forces with which they must compote — a thing that was impossible 
under the reign of the slave trade. But on this point, we shall not 
speculate. 

The present inability of free labor and slave labor, both combined, to 
meet the demands of commerce, and the reduction of cultivation that 
must occur in Cuba and Brazil, will leave a vaccuum in the markets, 
for tropical products, to ])e filled from other sources, or to give an 
increased value to the amoimt that can be supplied from the present 
fields of cultivation. 

But who is to be enriched by this result? "Wlio is to supply the 
deficit, and reap the golden harvest it will afford? Or, in default of 
augmented cultivation, who are to have their coffers made to overflow 
by an increase in the price of the productions they are able to furnish ? 
These questions are worth considering, and we must give them a 
moment's attention. 

The English West India free labor colonies cannot be much benefited, 
at present, by this increased demand for tropical products, as they can- 
not, immediately, increase their cultivation to any gi-eat extent. This 
will be readily admitted, when it is stated that the lands in these colo- 
nies are mostly held by white men, who reside in England ; and that 
the colored men in the islands own but a few acres each — barely enough, 
generally, to afford the necessary amount of food for their families. 

But already the West India landholders are bestirring themselves at 
the brightening prospects, and are appealing to the free colored people 
of the United States, to rush over to the islands, become loyal subjects 
of Queen Victoria, and faithful laborers on the plantations of English 
gentlemen! Our free colored men, however, deserve something better 
than this, and they know it : and they give indications of a determina- 
tion to reject the proffered boon of becoming mere laborers in tlie sucar 
mills of the West Indies, especially as they cannot expect over ffty 
cents per day, as wages. 

Doul)tless, an increase of wages will now command more of i\\Q native 
labor of these islands, than at any time since emancipation, and tend to 
multiply their exports; but no great advancement can be made until the 
intelligence of the colored people is raised much above the present 
standard, by more extensive means of education than now prevail, nor 
even then, until they become the owners of the soil. 

As Hayti still exports about one-third of her former amount of Coffee, 
she will be benefited by the rise in the price of that article ; but as her 



12 Facts for Thinking 3fen. 

Sugar and Cotton cultivation has been greatly neglected for many years, 
she will derive little present advantage from that quarter by any in- 
cr<^ased demand. 

Liberia, with only eight or nine thousand colonists, and eighty 
thousand partially civilized natives, mostly engaged in trade, or in pro- 
ducing food for home consumption, cannot derive any material benefit 
from an increased demand for Coffee, Sugar, and Cotton, for some years 
to come. Her citizens, however, are now turning attention to their 
cultivation with encouraging success ; and British capitalists offer to 
her citizens any amount of means for the employment of native labor 
in the cultivation of Cotton. Liberia can command an unbounded 
extent of fertile tropical lands, well adapted to the cultivation of all the 
three gi-eat staples upon which slave labor is now chiefly employed. 
She has within her own jurisdiction at least 300,000 natives, mostly 
uncivilized, and is backed in the interior and flanked on the west and 
east by untold millions who must ultimately 1)0 redeemed from barbarism. 
All this labor she must one day control. But as she has not now a 
sufficient number of men to carry on the work of civilization, and to 
control this labor, her wealth cannot be gi-eatly augmented by any 
extent of demand for articles she is not producing. 

Recent experiments in Australia, for the cultivation of Cotton, are 
said to have l3een eminently successful, but the still more recent dis- 
covery of gold in that country has drawn off the laborers from the cotton 
cultivation to the more tempting occupation of gold digging. 

It appears from these statements, that no tropical free labor country 
can derive much immediate benefit from an increased demand for tropical 
products ; and that the great practical good derived from it is only a 
consciousness that the slave trade can no longer paralyze tropical free 
labor and render the fruits of its industry valueless in the markets of 
the world. This, however, is one great point gained, and constitutes 
an era in the history of the African race. 

The parties, then, who will necessarily be benefited in the greatest 
degi'ce, by the suppression of the slave trade, will be the native popula- 
tion of Africa and the slaveholders in the United States. All free 
labor countries, it is true, will be stinuilatcd to immediate action, but 
they will require time to realize much of the benefits of the coming 
changes in the condition of slavery. The natives of Africa will merely 
be freed from their greatest curse, and be better prepared for civilization. 
Then, it is evident, that in the suppression of the slave trade, the slave- 
holders of the United States, alone, of all the parties named, will at 
once enter upon the enjoyment of the benefits of these changes, and 
will continue to be enriched thereby, until free labor multiplies its forces 
and throws into the markets a sufficient amount of products to supply 
the demand and reduce the prices. 

But can free labor do this in a day, a year, or ten years? Certainly 
not. The task, however, has been begun, and in the only mode, and 
on the only territory in which it can succeed ; and, but for the unfor- 
tunate opposition of the Abolitionists, this work might have been in a 
much greater state of forwardness than we now find it. That mode is 
to employ the labor of Africa within Africa. Many moderate anti- 
slaverv men, who have hitherto opposed us in this effort to call out free 



Facts for Tfiinking Men. 13 

labor in Africa, are now giving up their opposition to Colonization; 
bfiin'' convinced that the good of the colored men themselves, as well 
as th'e interests of free labor, can be most efficiently promoted by emi- 
gration to Liberia. But others are still violently opposed to Colonization. 
Leaving out the 500,000 free colored persons of the United States, 
and there'^are but about one million and three quarters of African free- 
men employed in the cultivation of Coffee, Sugar, and Cotton, for export ; 
while the slave population, now similarly employed, is not less than siz 
millions and three quarters ! Allowing the decrease of the slave popu- 
lation, in Cuba and Brazil, that will follow the suppression of the slave 
trade,' only to equal that in the English colonies, after 1808, and there 
will still be left at least six millions of slaves as competitors against one 
million and three quarters of freemen. 

Now, the contest, if conducted with these forces alone, will be an un- 
equal one, as the degi-ee of intelligence among the majority of the eman- 
cipated West India people is but a few degrees higher than that of the 
natives of Africa, and their voluntary industry will be proportionally 
unproductive. 

In stating the strength of the free labor forces, employed as rivals to 
slave labor,°we have not included the 500,000 free colored men of the 
United States. This was intentional, as they do not belong to the forces 
practically arrayed against slavery. On the contrary, they are, to the 
utmost of their pecuniary ability, as a body, engaged in its support. 
We speak knowingly, and mean what we say and beg to be heard. 

It is the extensive demand for slave labor products, and the profits 
on their sale, which is the main prop of slavery. Destroy this demand, 
and slave labor becomes valueless. Let the consumers become producers, 
and the task is accomplished to the full extent of the change effected. 
Draw off enough of the consumers into the ranks of the producers, to 
supply the demand for slave grown products, at lower rates than slave 
labor can afford them ; and the whole system must be pai-alyzed, just as 
certainly as the cheap slave labor, supplied by the slave trade, was ruin- 
ous to free labor. 

But the free colored people of the United States, instead of being 
thus arrayed against slavery, by remaining here, are practically sus- 
taining that institution, and perpetuating it as far as the patronage of a 
half million of customers can lend it support. 

How are they doing this ? The colored people have sworn eternal 
enmity to slavery, and have pledged themselves to struggle for its 
downfall ; how is it, then, that they can be thus engaged, perseveringly, 
in the support of an institution towards which they bear an unbounded 
hatred? ^i . . 

Well, they are doing it in this way, and, like the Christian world at 
large, they are supporting slavery from necessity. At a moderate esti- 
mate, each free colored person purchases, annually, three dollars' worth 
of cotton goods for clothing. This gives a support to slave labor, and 
its manufacturing allies, of one million and a half of dollars a year; an 
amount more than equal to the whole sum expended in founding the 
Republic of Liberia ; and which, if invested in the hire of native labor 
in Africa, would employ over 60,000 freemen in the cultivation of Cot- 
ton, and give a tremendous impulse to free labor. 



14 Facts for Tlnnhinrj Men. 

We know the free colored people did not mean so, hut for all practical 
purposes, in the contest for African freedom, they have, all along, been 
fighting on the wrong side ! 

But what can these 500,000 free colored people do, to prevent the 
profitable extension of slave labor, now appearing so inevitable in conse- 
quence of its advantageous position! Shall they fight? That is a 
hopeless remedy. Shall they remain here to agitate the question, and 
continue the consumption of slave grown products? The past history 
of this mode of warfare, proves it powerless in promoting their object. 
What can they do, then, to secure to free labor at least the benefits of 
the increasing demands for tropical products, and thus limit slavery to 
its present advantages, and prevent its further extension ? Surely, the 
answer is a plain one. Let these 500,000 free colored persons become 
producers of free labor products, instead of consumers of those that are 
slave grown, and let them call to their aid ten times their own numbers, 
and soon their weight, as a people, would be felt and acknowledged by 
the Christian world. But there is no country in the world, except 
Africa, where a suflScient amount of laborers can be found to affect this 
great question. 

And here now, allow us to say, that the whole practical tendency of 
Colonization, so far as it has reference to the free colored people, from 
the day of its origin, has been to array them on the side of free labor; 
and that, too, under such circumstances as would best promote their own 
interests and that of their children, and advance the cause of human 
freedom in Africa and throughout the world. For, so long as Africa 
remains barbarous, just so long will the people of color, scattered through- 
out the world, be reckoned as an inferior race, not capable of enjoying 
equal rights with the white races among whom they dwell. 

And allow us to say, further, that we do not expect that these 500,000 
free colored persons, by emigrating to Liberia, will be able, by the labor 
of their own hands to compete with the slave labor still employed in 
tropical cultivation, and to secure to themselves, at once, all the benefits 
of the increasing demands of commerce for the productions of the tropics : 
but we do say, that they will be equal participants in it, and that there 
is no other possible mode of employing the African free labor within 
Africa, and making it rival African slave labor in other countries, but 
by the emigration of intelligent colored men to that continent, to take its 
labor under then* care and give it a proper direction. 

And is not the control of the labor of Africa sufficiently valuable to 
tempt the enterprise of intelligent colored men to secure its possession? 
Heretofore nations have contended for its monopoly, and is it not worth 
the attention of individuals ? Look at what African labor has done out 
of Africa, and then judge of its capabilities if employed within Africa ; 
and judge, also, of the priceless boon which southern slaveholders be- 
stow upon their bondmen, when they offer them freedom in Liberia ! 

Hitherto the thousands of millions of dollars' worth of products, trans- 
ported by commerce to the ends of the eai-th, from the tropical and semi- 
tropical districts of the Western Hemisphere, to aggrandize the nations 
who possessed their control, have all been created by the strong arms 
and broken hearts of the sons and daughters of Africa. Centmy after 
century, Africa's children have been torn from her bosom, to labor for 



Facts for Tliinhing 3Ien._ 15 

tlie enriclament of strangers, and to die and be forgotten as the brutes 
of the field ! Nor was this accomplished but by dreadful losses of human 
life — losses, which, if occurring in any ordinary branch of commerce, 
would lead to its abandonment as a ruinous speculation. Look at these 
losses but a moment : for each 300 men, made available to the planter, 
by the slave trade, Africa had to lose 1,000 — the 700 perishing in the 
casualties attending the traffic. Tropical cultivation must be vastly 
profitable to bear such losses as this. And yet, with all these disadvan- 
tages, what has not slave labor accomplished in the production of wealth ! 
Take as an example, the slave gi-own crops of Coffee, Sugar, and Cotton, 
for a single year, namely, 1849, and theii- market value, at only eight 
and one-half cents per pound, was over two hundred and thirty millions 
of dollars ! ! 

Now if African labor, after the destruction of seven-tenths, to make 
three-tenths available, has enriched half the nations of the world, and 
now supplies the basis of two-thirds of their commerce, what may not be 
expected for Africa herself, when all her labor shall become available 
for her own aggrandizement? 

And, need we repeat, that Colonization is but a broad scheme of 
intervention, for securing to Africa the benefits of her own labor ; that 
Liberia is but the foundation stone of the glorious temple, yet to be 
reared in Africa, to freedom and to God ; that the part we ask our free 
colored people to perform, is but to perfect this work of benevolence and 
love ; that without their aid, the development of the resources of Africa 
must be slow, and slave labor be left, almost without a rival, to extend 
itself upon this continent, crushing free labor and the colored freeman 
both into the dust ; and that, though there will be six millions of slaves, 
against whom to do battle in the markets of the world, the free colored 
people, by removing to Africa, will have one hundred millions of their 
own race to summon to their aid, in sustaining themselves in this final 
struo-o-le for the social, civil, and religious redemption of themselves and 
of the long benighted land of their fathers. 

And who will now dare to oppose Colonization, and say, that Africa, 
after enriching the world by her labor, shall not now receive back to her 
embrace, enough of her captive children to secure to herself the profits 
of her industry ! Who will be bold enough to deny to her enough of 
her enlightened sons, to organize her scattered tribes into one great 
nation, enabling her to become the gigantic commercial country, for 
which she is so eminently fitted by her inunense population and wonder- 
ful agi-icultural resources ! 

With such facts before him, as are embraced in these pages, who can 
fail to foresee the results of the new contest that is commencing, and to 
realize that the triumph or defeat of tropical free labor, is dependent upon 
the course of action adopted by the colored freemen of the United States. 
Truly, may it be said, that the destiny of Africa, and the African race, 
is now in their hands ! And, with equal truth, may we not assert, that 
opposition to Colonization, is opposition to the extension of Free Labor, 
and must tend to the perpetuation of slavery. 
Oxford, 0., December, 1852. 



NOTE 

Does the Slave Trade and Slavery exist among IJherians'l 

The organization of the Republic of Liberia, has effected a radical change in the commercial 
regulations within the territory over which it claims jurisdiction. The laws of the Republic have 
interfered with the business of the merchants trading on that coas^, by requiring that they shall 
now pay duties on the goCiis sold to the natives, where formerly they could traffic freely, with- 
out being interrupted by tariffs. This cliange in the mode of conducting their trade, has lessened 
the profits of the merchants, and has enraged, against the Republic, that class of them who have 
been more anxious to amass fortunes than to promote the social and moral welfare of the African 
people. 

The feebleness of the little Republic seems to have led this class of men to believe, that, if they 
could succeed in persuading Christian nations to withdraw their protection, the settlements might 
easily be destroyed by hostile natives, or the government compeUcdto reUnquish its claims to the 
exercise of sovereignty. In either case, the trade of the coast would be restored to its previous 
condition, and they left in the possession of their former advantages. 

The most artful and successful mode of attack upon Liberia, has been to represent the Colonists 
as aiding in the slave trade, and as subjecting the natives to slavery. This charge has been so 
often repeated, that the friends of Liberia, in England, have investigated the subject, and the 
following testimony, ft'om men of the highest characR-r in the British Navy, has been collected 
and laid before the public. Other testimony, equally conclusive, niiglit be added, but what is 
here appended, is considered as amply sufficient to stamp the charges as infamously false. 

But we must first, state that the Constitution framed for the Colonists, bj' the American Colo- 
nization Society, and by which they were governed trom 1825 to 1836, declared, '■ Art. V. There 
shall be no slavery in the settlement;"' and, further, that in 1839, a Legislative Council was 
created in Liberia, and the Constitution remodeled, so as to read thus : 

Art. 20. " There shall be no slavery in the Commonwealth." 

Art 22. " Tliere*siaall be no dealing in slaves by any citizen of the Commonwealth, either 
within or beyond the Umits of the same." 

In 1847, the Colony declared itself an Independent Republic, with the following language in 
its Constitution : 

" Art. I. — Pec. 1, All men are born equally free ana independent, and among their natural, 
inherent and inalienable rights, are the rights of enjoying and defending life and liberty. 

Sec. 4. There shall be no slavery within this Republic. Nor shall any citizen of this Republic 
or any person resident therein, deal in slaves, either within or without this Republic. 

Sec. 8. No person shall be deprived of life, hberty, property, privilege, but by the judgment 
of his peers, or the law of the land. 

In testimony oif her sincerity, in reference to human rights, in her Treaty with England, which 
went into operation in April, 1850, Liberia binds herself as follows : 

Art. 9. " Slavery and the slave trade being perpetually abolished in the Republic of Liberia, 
the Republic engages that a law shall be passed decl.aring it to be piracy for any Liberian citizen 
or vessel to be engaged or concerned in the slave trade." 

New for the testimony in relation to the faitliluhxss with which all these articles have been 
executed. [We quote from the Colonization Herald, Dec. 1S52 ] 

" Captain Arabian, R. N., in one of his despalihes says : '• Nothing has been done more to sup- 
press the slave trade in this quarter, than the constant intercourse of the natives with these indus- 
trious colonists ;" and, again : " Their character is exceedingly correct and moral ; their minds 
strongly impressed with religious feeling ; and their domestic habits, remarkably neat and com- 
fortable." " Wherever the influence of Liberia extends, the slave trade has been abandoned by 
the natives." 

Lieutenant Stott, R. N., in a letter to Dr. Ilodgkin, dated July, 1840, says, it (Liberia) promises 
to be the only successful institution on the coast of Africa, keeping in mind its objects, viz : 
" that "of raising the African slave into a free man ; the extinction of the slave trade ; and the 
religious and moral improvement of Africa ;" and adds, " The surrounding Africans are aware 
of the nature of the colony, taking refuge when persecuted by the few neighboring slave traders. 
The remnant of a tribe have lately fled to and settled in the colony on land granted them. 
Between my two visits, a lapse of only a few days, four or five slaves sought refuge from their 
master, who was about to sell or had sold them to the only slave factory on the coast. The 
native chiefs in the neighborhood have that respect for the colonists, that they have made 
treaties for the abolition of the slave trade." 

Captain Irving, R. N., in a letter to Dr. Ilodgkin, August 8d, 1840, observes : " You ask me if 
they aid in the slave trade. I assure you, no ! and I am sure the colonists would feel themselves 
much hurt should they know such a question could possibly arise m England. In my opinion 
it is the best and safest plan for the extinction of the slave trade, and the civilization of Africa ; 
for it is a well known fact that wherever their flag flies it is an eye sore to the slave dealers." 

Captain Herbert, R. N. : " With regard to the present state of slave taking in the colony bf 
Liberia, I have never known one instance of a slave being owned or disposed of by a colonist. On 
the contrary, I have known them to render great faciUty to our cruisers there in taking vessels 
engaged in that nefarious traffic." 

Captain Dunlop, who had abundant opportunities for becoming acquainted with Liberia during 
the years 1848, "49, and '50, says : " I am perfectly satisfied no such thing as domestic slavery 
exists, in any shape amongst the citizens of the Republic." 

Commodore Sir Charles Hotham, Commander-in-chief of H. B. Majesty's squadron on the West- 
ern t'oast of Africa, in a letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty, dated April 7, 1847, and pub- 
lished iu the Parliamentary Returns, says : " On perusing the correspondence of my predecessors, 
I found a great difference of opinion existing as to the views and objects of the settlers ; some even 
accusing the governor of lending himself to the slave trade. After discussing the whole subject 
with officers and others best qualified to judge on the matter, I not only satisfied my own mind 
that there is no reasonable cause for such a suspicion, but further, that this establishment merits 
all the. support we can give it ; for it is only through their means that we can hope to improve the 
African race." Subsequently, in 1849, the same officer gave his testimony before the House of 
Lords, in the following language : " There is no necessity for the squadron watching the coast 
between Sierra Leone and Cape Pahnas, as the Liberian territory intervenes, and there the slave 
trade has been extinguished." 






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